Harry Potter: World at War
by I AM ZE BETA
Summary: <html><head></head>After a far more brutal DOM battle than canon, Harry throws off the shackles of Dumbledore, and prepares for a world embroiled in constant war. Harry!Harem! Harry/Narcissa/Bellatrix! Harry/Hermione!</html>
1. The Ministry Gambit: pt 1

**Hey guys, real brief A/N up here, but the long ass one is at the bottom. **

**This is a collaboration fic between me (I AM ZE BETA) and Supernova64, for those that have read my other stories, I am the primary writer, so expect much of the same style. If on the other hand you didn't like my other works, then you know what to expect. **

****Enjoy the show!****

**Harry Potter: World at War**

**Chapter 1: The Ministry Gambit: Pt. 1**

It was two o'clock when the fifth-years entered the Great Hall for the last of the O.W.L. Exams. Harry took his place in front of the face-down test paper and sighed.

He was exhausted from the rigors of testing, he just wanted this to all be over so he could go and sleep; then tomorrow, he and Ron were going to go down to the Pitch - he wanted a fly on Ron's broom, and he wanted to savor his freedom from the revision of all his course work.

"Turn over your papers." Professor Marchbanks called from the front of the Hall as she turned over the hour-glass. "You have one hour, and your time starts... now."

Harry stared fixedly at the first question. It was several seconds before it occurred to him that he had not taken in a word of it; there was a wasp buzzing distractingly against one of the high windows. Slowly, torturously, he at last began to write an answer.

He was finding it very difficult to remember names and kept confusing dates. He simply skipped question four (In your opinion, did wand legislation contribute to, or lead to better control of, goblin riots of the eighteenth century?), thinking that he would go back to it if he had time at the end. He had a stab at question five (How was the Statute of Secrecy breached in 1749 and what measures were introduced to prevent a recurrence?) but had a nagging suspicion that he had missed several important points; he had a feeling vampires had come into the story somewhere.

He looked ahead for a question he could definitely answer and his eyes alighted upon number ten: Describe the circumstances that led to the formation of the International Confederation of Wizards and explain why the warlocks of Liechtenstein refused to join.

_I know this_, Harry thought, though his brain felt torpid and slack. He could visualize a heading, in Hermione's handwriting: _The formation of the International Confederation of Wizards_... he had read those notes only this morning.

He began to write, looking up now and again to check the large hour-glass on the desk beside Professor Marchbanks. He was sitting right behind Parvati Patil, whose long dark hair fell below the back of her chair. Once or twice he found himself staring at the tiny golden lights that glistened in it when she moved her head slightly, and had to give his own head a little shake to clear it.

"... The first Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards was Pierre Bonaccord, but his appointment was contested by the Wizarding community of Liechtenstein, because -"

All around Harry quills were scratching on parchment like scurrying, burrowing rats. The sun was very hot on the back of his head. What was it that Bonaccord had done to offend the wizards of Liechtenstein? Harry had a feeling it had something to do with trolls... he gazed blankly at the back of Parvati's head again. If he could only perform Legilimency and open a window in the back of her head and see what it was about trolls that had caused the breach between Pierre Bonaccord and Liechtenstein..?

Harry closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, so that the glowing red of his eyelids grew dark and cool. Bonaccord had wanted to stop troll-hunting and give the trolls rights... but Liechtenstein was having problems with a tribe of particularly vicious mountain trolls... that was it.

He opened his eyes; they stung and watered at the sight of the blazing white parchment. Slowly, he wrote two lines about the trolls, and then read through the work he had done so far. It did not seem very informative or detailed, yet he was sure Hermione's notes on the Confederation had gone on for pages and pages.

He closed his eyes again, trying to see them, trying to remember… the Confederation had met for the first time in France, yes, he had written that already…

Goblins had tried to attend and been ousted… he had written that, too…

And nobody from Liechtenstein had wanted to come…

_Think_, he told himself, his face in his hands, while all around him quills scratched out never-ending answers and the sand trickled through the hour-glass at the front...

_He was walking along the cool, dark corridor to the Department of Mysteries again, walking with a firm and purposeful tread, breaking occasionally into a run, determined to reach his destination at last... the black door swung open for him as usual, and here he was in the circular room with its many doors…_

_Straight across the stone floor and through the second door... patches of dancing light on the walls and floor and that odd mechanical clicking, but no time to explore, he must hurry…_

_He slowly walked the last few feet to the third door, which swung open just like the others…_

_Once again he was in the cathedral-sized room full of shelves and glass spheres... his heart was beating very fast now... he was going to get there this time... when he reached number 97 he turned left and hurried along the aisle between two rows…_

_But there was a shape on the floor at the very end, a black shape moving on the floor like a wounded animal... Harry's stomach contracted with fear… with excitement…_

_A voice issued from his mouth, a high, cold voice empty of any human kindness…_

"_Take it for me... lift it down, now... I cannot touch it... but you can... If only you'd stop hiding in the shape of that infernal mutt."_

_The black shape on the floor shifted a little. Harry saw a long-fingered white hand clutching a wand rise at the end of his own arm... heard the high, cold voice say "_Crucio_!"_

_The shape on the floor let out a yelp of pain, attempted to stand onto its four legs, but fell back, writhing. Harry was laughing. He raised his wand, the curse lifted and the figure groaned and became motionless._

"_Lord Voldemort is waiting…"_

_Very slowly, the shape of the dog morphed into an inhumanly gaunt man. His face was bloodstained, and his clothes torn. He was still trembling from the after effects of the Dark Lord's curse. Tortuously, the man raised his head and spat on the Dark Lord, his face twisted in horrific pain, yet rigid with his unwavering defiance._

"_You'll have to kill me," whispered Sirius Black. "And if you do that... You'll lose your best chance at getting that prophecy."_

"_Oh you are right about that Black. In the end you shall die." said the high cold voice. "But first, you will fetch it for me. After all, isn't that what mongrels like you love to do? Don't worry if you don't, we've got hours and hours ahead of us. Nobody is scheduled to come back to the Department of Mysteries until tomorrow morning. Nobody will even hear your sweet, sweet, screams."_

_Sirius twisted on the floor, somehow rising to his feet. "My screams won't be the only ones echoing in this chamber you foul cretin!"_

_Sirius slid into his dog form and leapt for Voldemort's throat. The Dark Lord simply sidestepped the lunge, and swung a whip of fire from his wand. The lash struck Sirius's hindquarters and he yelped in pain, as he fell to the ground, returning to his human form._

"_You fool!" Voldemort shouted out lashing out with his whip. "You dare attempt to harm me; I who have taken steps further than any other down the road to immortality?" The lash of flame carved into Sirius, opening up wounds all over his body, running together into a puddle of blood._

"_I'd love to let you bleed out mongrel, but we do have a date to keep." Voldemort snarled. He waved his wand, and slowly the wounds closed up, stitching together, and healing with nary a scar._

"_You do seem to respond well to my healing spells mutt." The Dark Lord admitted. "That just means I can be _creative."

Somebody screamed as Voldemort lowered his wand again; somebody yelled and fell sideways off a hot desk on to the cold stone floor; Harry awoke as he hit the ground, still yelling, his scar on fire, as the Great Hall erupted all around him. Everyone had got up out of their desks and backed away against a far wall except for Hermione Ron, and surprisingly Neville, all rushed over to help their friend.

"Harry what happened, are you alright?" Hermione asked frantically.

Harry hissed and clutched at his scar, as Neville and Ron each grabbed an arm and hauled him to his feet.

"Yeah I think so, scar really burns though." Harry spat through clenched teeth, as he gingerly steadied himself.

Umbridge burst into the room, a fearful Marietta Edgecombe at her shoulder. "Ms. Edgecombe informed me that there was a disturbance in the testing room. What is the meaning of this Mr. Potter?" Her sickly voice asked.

"Nothing." Harry replied. He idly noted that Ron had scrambled back to his seat, seeming to return to his test just moments before Umbridge arrived. He filed the information away for later, before refocusing his attention to the interrupting toad.

On the other side of the room, Malfoy threw his hand up in the air with a smirk before chiming in. "Excuse me professor, Potter fell out of his chair screaming and clutching his head. I think it was supposed to be a signal that the Gryffindors created to trade answers."

"Thank you Mr. Malfoy that will be enough for now." Umbridge said happily.

"Thanks to you Mr. Potter, that will be 100 points from Gryffindor for each student in the room, ten of you in total." She added eagerly, totaling it up. "As for you, Mr. Potter you personally will fail your History O.W.L. for speaking during a silent examination. You may leave the room now."

Neville was absolutely furious with rage at the toad like woman. "You can't do that." He screamed at her spitting with rage.

"I assure you I can Mr. Longbottom, you have a night's detention, and unless you'd like to fail your O.W.L as well, sit down and return to your exam. That goes for you as well Ms. Granger. There will be no more interruptions." Umbridge declared.

She walked to the door before turning around. "Oh, and Mr. Potter, don't forget for every second after I leave that you are still in this room will be considered another attempt to cheat by Gryffindor, costing you're house a further 100 points."

Harry scampered out, unable to believe that he'd cost Gryffindor 1,000 points in seconds. Stunned, he sat in the hallway, barely acknowledging the passage of time, even the constant nagging burn of his scar was ignored as he stared blankly at the wall. Soon, the exam finished, and everybody trickled past him in hushed silence.

"What happened in there Harry?" Neville's quiet voice snapped him out of his reverie.

"Si-" Harry's voice trailed off as he realized Neville didn't know of Sirius' innocence. "A friend of mine must've gotten caught by Death Eaters or something. Voldemort had him in the Department of Mysteries, he was being tortured, he was resisting, but I don't know how long he can last."

"How do you know?" Neville asked. "You just screamed out in the middle of the exam."

"I saw flashes of it, like I did with Mr. Weasley." Harry explained. "Sometimes I can see what Voldemort can if he's emotional enough."

"Who was it?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"It was Snuffles." Harry whispered.

Hermione bent down and pulled Harry into a hug. "Oh Harry," She murmured. "I'm sorry."

Harry numbly wrapped his arms around her in return. "I know where he is." He said after a moment. "We can go get him."

"Get who?" A new voice demanded. Harry looked up through his tear-streaked glasses and saw a mane of red hair atop a face of little red dots: Ginny.

"You-Know-You has captured Snuffles." Ron told her. "Harry wants us to go get him."

"What?" Ginny screamed, turning to Harry. She put her hands on her hips, every inch the daughter of Molly Weasley. "How dare you try to put my family in even more danger? If he was captured by You-Know-Who, he's dead!"

"Ginny." Hermione said warningly, pulling herself from Harry's embrace and rising to her feet.

"Don't 'Ginny' me!" The younger witch howled. "I am not trying to get my family killed on a suicidal rescue mission. My dad was nearly killed because Dumbledore wanted him to protect some damned door to the Department of Mysteries! Sirius is gone. Gone, dead, slaughtered, killed, whatever term you want to use, there's no saving him."

"Sirius?" Neville asked slowly. "As in Sirius Black, I thought he betrayed your parents Harry?"

"No." Harry said quietly. "It was someone else, but he pinned the blame on Sirius."

He slowly got to his feet, and continued in a much stronger voice. "Stay here if you'd like Ginny, you certainly have every right to, but Sirius risked his life to help me last year, and in 3rd year. I can't leave him in the heart of the Ministry to be tortured and eventually killed. This is just like last time, if I could save your dad, then I have to at least try to save Sirius. He's all the family I've got left."

"No he's not." Neville said suddenly. "We're god-brothers. It's family of a sort."

At Harry's blank stare he continued. "My mum's your Godmother, and vice versa. It's legally considered family; your heirs stand to inherit the Longbottom name if I don't produce any of my own."

"Really?" Harry asked in wonder. "I have a brother..."

"Always." Neville said with a grin. Abruptly his face hardened. "And if you say Sirius Black is innocent, I believe you. I'll come with you to rescue him, like the Potters and Longbottoms of old."

"I'm your family too." Hermione said, squeezing his hand in hers. "And I'll come with you to get your Godfather."

Harry turned to face Ron and Ginny. "You always said we were family Ron." Harry pleaded. "Prove it to me now, when I need you the most."

He locked eyes with his ginger-haired friend, and then sagged as Ron broke his gaze. "Family or not, I won't be there Harry, I can't risk my life for Sirius, not when there's no chance he's alive."

"Yeah, and you wouldn't even stand up to Umbridge with us either." Harry spat vehemently. "Get the fuck out of here Ron. You've shown your true colors, a snake in lion's clothes. Fat lot of good our friendship did me."

Ron met his eyes quickly, before looking away. "Sorry Potter, Sirius' body isn't worth getting killed over."

Harry's mind was muddled, the constant burn in his scar, and the day's events became too much for him; suddenly he felt nothing but the sudden crunch of bone under his fist, as Ron's nose spurted blood, and he reeled back from the hit. "Then consider our friendship fucking over, Weasley."

"Fuck you Potter!" Ginny screeched. "You've always been Dumbledore's precious Golden Boy! The fucking _Chosen One_ and all that bullshit! After the Chamber, the first thing he did was see if you were okay, and didn't give two fucks about little Ginny Weasley! Fuck you and your old bearded whore of a mentor! We don't need you Potter, we never did."

Harry turned away, wiping his bloody fist on his robes to clean it. Behind him, Ginny helped Ron to his feet, and both left, presumably headed to the Hospital Wing.

Harry stood straight-backed as his ears tracked their departure. Only after the footsteps had long since faded away, did he allow his guise of confidence to fall.

"Have they always felt that way?" He choked out, barely louder than a whisper. "Do Mr. and Mrs. Weasley feel like that too?"

He hated the thought as soon as he had voiced it. The Weasley's had always been so kind to them, and if Ginny was right... He'd repaid them by tearing their family apart. First Percy left, and sided with Fudge, something that never would have been an issue if he hadn't been their friend. Fred and George were targets, until they eventually escaped Umbridge's rule, and now they were without their N.E.W.T.s, in a world without opportunity. Bill had taken a pay cut and a demotion with the goblins, to return and fight in a war he was at the center of. Ron's life had been in danger every year because he was Harry's friend, and yet he had stuck by him. And poor Ginny... she'd been possessed by Tom Riddle because of her obsession with him, an event that clearly traumatized her to this day.

Hermione placed a calming hand to his arm. "Harry, if they were ever your friends, then they'd help you now. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would be petrified if they heard what Ginny had said. Don't let her get to you too much."

"Even ignoring that, what if they're right?" Harry asked, tears welling up involuntarily. "What if Sirius is dead?"

"Look at me Harry." Hermione said firmly, grabbing his hand. "He's not dead. You'd see it if he was, Voldemort's glee would be overwhelming. We can still get him."

"But Ro- Weasley's right." Harry said firmly, stumbling over his former friend's name. "I can't ask you to risk your lives for me. I'll have to go alone."

"The hell you will." Hermione snapped. "You spoke of us being like family, and like it or not, family helps each other. I will be there right by your side; even should Voldemort himself try to stop me."

"But..." Harry started weakly.

"No buts Harry." Hermione told him. "I wouldn't miss this for the world. I can't let you face him alone. I love you too much for that."

Harry gaped at her use of the "L" word, before clearing his throat, and wiping his eyes. "I know you do 'Mione. If you want to come that much then, I don't think I'll be able to stop you."

A grin crossed her face. "That's right. Let's get going, we don't have any time to waste."

Harry's face instantly hardened into a mask of strength and calm. "That's right. We can take a broom from the Quidditch Pitch. I know you can't fly one very easily by yourself 'Mione, but you can ride on the back of mine."

"I think you'll find we need two brooms Harry." Neville said. "They can't fit three, and I'm not staying here."

"I'd argue, but I'm pretty sure I'd lose." Harry said wryly, flinching as his scar flared yet again. "Alright, we need two brooms then."

"Wait!" Hermione said urgently. "We can't rush off recklessly. If it's a trap-"

"It's not a trap Hermione!" Harry shouted; rage suddenly welling up from within. "I fucking saw it, Just like I saw Mr. Weasley get attacked, we ha-"

"I know we have to rescue him Harry!" Hermione interrupted. "But we can't head out with a half-cocked plan. We need to contact the Order, and let them know to come to the Department of Mysteries."

"Fucking tell me how!" Harry screamed. "I've thought about it, and there's no way to get a letter out of this school with Umbridge in charge! She's got this place locked down tighter Azkaban!"

"I don't know! But give me a minute to figure something out!" Hermione pleaded. "If Voldemort is there, we need the Order's support, we can't face him alone."

"If I may interrupt; I think I may have a solution: the Room where we held the DA lessons?" Neville said coolly.

Harry and Hermione both nodded.

"It can do anything you want to right?" Neville asked. "What if we just ask that it give us a way to get a message to Sirius and see if he's been captured, and if not, send a message to Dumbledore. He's the only one that You-Know-You was ever scared of."

"That's not a bad idea." Hermione admitted. "But how do we get to the Room? Umbridge has it under constant watch."

"Easy." Neville snorted. "I accidentally created a secret passage to the Room a few months ago after the last DA meeting."

"What!" Hermione cried. "How and why didn't you tell us?"

"It was when Umbridge first showed up." Neville explained. "My only thought was '_Get me out of here!'_ I was in the back of the Room, and one of the bookcases swung open to reveal a set of stairs. I followed them and it led to a doorway behind the portrait of Arthur and Merlin in the common room. I never told anybody because it was all but useless. We couldn't bring everybody into Gryffindor Tower, and there are snitches in every house as we've figured out."

"We'll need to split up then." Harry said decisively. "Neville, to keep appearances up, you need to go to that detention with Umbridge. As soon as her back is turned, hit her with the strongest stunner you can muster. Knock her out, body-bind her, triple-silence her, disillusion her, and then stuff her in Myrtle's bathroom. That will buy us plenty of time for Hermione to write and send these letters, and get ready to leave. I'm going to follow up on a second option to get the word out. Use your DA coin to send messages to me; you should be able to send simple phrases that aren't too long."

"What are you going to be doing?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"I just told you," Harry grinned. "I'm following up on another option."

*****HP: WAW*****

Harry soon stood at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He'd avoided revealing his second plan, because he hated to use something that reminded him of his now former best friend, but there was only one thing he knew that could get a message to an Order member quickly enough to make a difference.

Raising his wand, he softly whispered. "_Point me."_ The wand spun around on his outstretched palm, before point east. Harry followed the directions from the wand; luckily the ground of the Forest was fairly downtrodden in this sector. The presence of the centaurs kept the undergrowth at bay.

He quickly reached his destination in the heart of Forest. Kneeling down onto the soft ground, he called out. "Help me. You're my best hope at saving my godfather. I need to get this letter to Arthur Weasley at the Burrow as fast as possible."

Just as he'd hoped, the dark clearing was suddenly illuminated by a brilliant swathe of light from behind a massive tree. Slowly, an old Ford Anglia rolled into view, its paint chipped, and scratched; years of living in the Forest had clearly taken its toll. Harry could only hope that the enchantments held out for the 3 years since he'd seen it last.

"Will you help me?" Harry asked quietly. He reached into pocket of his robes and pulled out the letter he'd written.

The car honked its horn and reversed back into the Forest.

"Wait!" Harry called out. "I thought you'd do this. There are instructions in here for Mr. Weasley to withdraw the money from my vault to get you fixed up properly. You'll be restored to as good as new."

The horn honked again, but it sounded less aggressive than before. "I promise." Harry said, holding the letter out. "Just carry this one letter, and then you're free to do as you please for the rest of your existence."

Finally, the car rolled back into view, obligingly lifting a windshield wiper. Harry tucked the letter underneath it, before patting the Ford's hood. "Thank you." He said quietly. "You don't know what this means to me."

The car's door opened, before swinging back and forth, in a manner reminiscent of the "Come hither" gesture. Reluctantly, Harry crawled into the driver's seat.

The car suddenly took off, becoming airborne over the Forest. It hurtled over the treetops, headed towards Hogwarts.

"What are you doing?" Harry cried, banging on the door of the car. "I need you to go to the Burrow!"

The old Anglia ignored him, and instead flew directly into the side of the ancient castle at full speed.

Harry was thrown clear of the wreck, landing on his back in a dark room. The Anglia honked twice belligerently, before revving out of the newly created hole, and disappearing above the clouds. Harry closed his eyes as he prayed against all hope that the Ford would fulfill his request.

Only to painfully open them again, as an all too familiar voice drawled behind him. "Mr. Potter, what is the meaning of you crash landing in my private office?"

Snape; of all the people's offices to land into…

Harry groaned, as he gingerly rolled off of the table he'd been dumped onto.

"It wasn't intentional Snape." He groaned. "That damned car dropped me here as you can damned well see."

"Obviously. But that doesn't excuse you from interrupting the delicate proceedings of several of my potions. I'll have 30 points from Gryffindor." Snape said vehemently.

"Not like it fucking matters." Harry grunted, pulling himself up off of the floor to a standing position. "Umbridge took over 1,000 points from us today."

Snape's eyes widened. "What did you do to her Potter? That is further than even I've dared to push the limits."

"I had a vision from Voldemort during my O.W.L." Harry started.

"Do not say the Dark Lord's name!" Snape hissed out, clamping his hand over his left forearm. "As I'm sure you are aware, I am a spy within his ranks. As such, I've been branded with the Dark Mark. He doesn't like us to use his full name. He went so far as to put a curse in the Mark that causes it to burn should it be said within a certain radius. The magic behind it is rather basic actually, he tied a simple Taboo hex with the perversion of the Protean charm, and Tattooing spell that created the Dark Mark."

Harry simply stared at him blankly.

"You are an insufferable dunderhead." The Potions Master groaned. "I don't know why I even bothered."

His black eyes glinted in the dim light of the dungeons as he leaned forward. "You said you had a vision? Tell me, in great detail. Don't leave anything out."

"Err... I was in the History O.W.L." Harry said hesitantly. "I was drifting in and out, unable to focus on the exam. My eyes closed against my will, and I was in His mind. He's got Sirius in the Department of Mysteries, torturing him, trying to get Sirius to get him something; something that Vold- that the Dark Lord couldn't touch."

"Interesting." Snape said, his voice surprisingly lacking his trademark sarcasm. "What methods did he use? Try to remember everything you saw."

"Err." Harry thought back to the vision burned in his memory. "He used the Cruciatus at first. Then he used a flame whip, before healing Sirius, and then promising to get _creative._" Harry shuddered. "That can't be good. Can it?"

Snape straightened abruptly. "That certainly sounds like the Dark Lord's methods." He admitted. "Very well, I shall contact the Order at once. I believe that this vision may in fact be genuine. But whatever else should happen..."

Harry looked up expectantly.

"_Stay here Potter._ Do not under any circumstances leave Hogwarts' grounds." Snape warned. "Umbridge will be doing everything in her power to get you expelled from the school; do not give her any more reason. You could be carted off to Azkaban on trumped up charges if she has her way."

Harry seethed inwardly. If that git thought he'd stay while Voldemort was torturing Sirius, he had another thing coming.

"Potter, return to Gryffindor Tower at once." Snape ordered, interrupting his musings. "I will summon you one hour before curfew to discuss what the Order has decided. If anybody asks, you are once again taking remedial potions."

With what was clearly a dismissal, Harry departed the office in silence. At least the Order would be contacted, but now Harry knew he had to get off to the Ministry before the Order arrived. If he got there late, they'd simply send him back. He had a sinking feeling that Sirius wouldn't be able to be saved without him being there.

His pocket burned, and he drew the Galleon from his pocket. Silver letters spelled out a simple phrase. _Mission Accomplished. N.L._

A second later it burned again. _Sorry Harry. I talked to Kreacher and. _the message faded and was replaced a moment later. _He said that Sirius left with his cousins. H.G._

To Harry this only confirmed everything. Sirius' cousins were the dreaded sisters Black: Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix LeStrange. Both unquestionably were sided with Voldemort. There was no longer any doubt in his mind that Voldemort was torturing Sirius at that very moment. A powerful twinge in his scar cemented his resolve.

He drew his wand and pressed it to the Galleon, focusing on a single phrase. _Mine's done. Voldemort has him. H.P. _He watched the letters fade away, and repeated the process. _Head to the lawn. Time to go. H.P._

He took off at a jog towards the Great Hall.

*****HP: WAW*****

Harry met the others on the lawn just minutes later. "Let's go." Harry said. "Snape found out about the vision, and he thinks it's real. We don't have much time left."

Hermione smiled. "I always knew you were hiding a brain in there Harry. I hadn't even thought of Snape, but he's an Order member. Of course he's got a way to contact them!"

"Not the time." Harry said crossly. "Let's get going."

The trio set off on a run towards the pitch, surprisingly, it was Neville who led the pack, with other two barely keeping pace. "I've been running ever since the DA started." He explained as they ran. While Harry and Hermione were panting and breathing heavily after only a few minutes, Neville's breathing was even, and his pace steady. "I felt it was a good way to help handle the Death Eater's, most of them can only dodge 1 or 2 spells before they run out of energy. The quicker I am on my feet, the longer I can last."

"Well keep it up Nev." Harry said between pants. "It's certainly helping out here."

They had passed through the massive doors in the Great Hall and were sprinting across the lawn. Dozens of students were already outside, enjoying the summer day after a long week of testing was finally over.

They passed a group of Gryffindors that were whispering harshly amongst themselves, but quickly silenced as Harry and the others approached. Fingers were pointed, and remarks made, but none of the trio could catch what was being said.

Things were quite different as they passed a gang of 7th year Slytherins. "Potter!" One of them shouted. "Come join us! Have a Butterbeer, you've all but guaranteed us the House Cup. Cheers!"

Harry ignored them, and put on a burst of speed he didn't know he had. Taunts and jeers were aimed his way as they traveled the long expanse of greenery, but he barely heard them. Every fiber of his being was focused on reaching the shed on the outside of the Quidditch pitch.

At last, they arrived at the broom shed behind the pitch, coming to a stop beside the Forbidden Forest. Neville tried the door, before swearing under his breath. "Harry! It's locked, what do we do now?"

Hermione stepped forward confidently. "_Alohomora_!" The pale jet of light hit the knob which glowed slightly, but remained stubbornly locked.

"Damn. Hooch must've bewitched the lock. I can't get through." Hermione muttered, clearly furious with herself.

"You could always try the older unlocking spell." A light airy voice prompted.

Harry and Neville whirled around, wands pointed at the unexpected visitor. Stepping out from behind a large tree was Luna Lovegood.

"The wand movement is the same, and its incantation is _Open Sesame_." The girl continued. "It's a little crude, but it gets the job done."

Hermione stared at Luna for a moment before complying. Tracing the reverse "S" in the air with her wand, she declared: "_Open Sesame!_"

The hinges of the door exploded outward, reducing the wooden door to little more than firewood. All four members of the group were peppered with hot iron, and slender shards of wood, opening up light gashes on their exposed faces and hands.

Harry touched a hand to the side of his face, and wasn't surprised to see it come back with a light coating of blood; sighing he wiped it off on the grass at his feet.

Hermione moved to yell at the younger girl, but Harry interrupted her. "It doesn't matter Hermione. The door is open, so we can get the brooms to go and rescue Sirius now."

Hermione sighed, deflated. "I know, let's go."

"Sirius?" Luna asked in wonder. "Do you mean Stubby Boardman?"

She shrugged her robes off, revealing her naked chest beneath.

"I have a mole that looks just like him!" She twisted, exposing her side, letting it catch what little light was left in the day. "See? If I help you rescue him, do you think he'll sign it?"

Harry and Neville both stared open-mouthed, unable to formulate a reply.

Hermione harrumphed. "Honestly boys." She said smacking both of them on the shoulder. "Luna. Put your robes back on, I'm sure 'Stubby' will be happy to sign something for you, but we need to get to London now! We don't have time for any more distractions!"

"London? Then why are you at the Quidditch pitch?" Luna asked, picking her robe up from the grass, and pulling it on.

With Luna's chest now hidden, Harry could once again focus on the goal. "We need to get to the Ministry, and the school brooms are the fastest method of transport we have available." His voice trailed off as he realized something. "We could actually just take them to Hogsmeade. I doubt Umbitch thought to shut down the Three Broomsticks' Floo."

"Oooh!" Luna squealed. "If we take the Floo, can we stop by the Minister's Office on the way back? Daddy says they raise Heliopaths there, to protect evidence of Fudge's corruption."

"Err... Sure?" Harry said, deciding not to care about Luna's creatures, and instead worry about Sirius.

"Yay!" Luna cried, throwing her arms around Harry. "Daddy's going to be so jealous that I get to pet a Heliopath! Ooh! I'll bet it just tickles."

Harry stood awkwardly as she released him. "Anyway, Harry, everybody knows not to fly brooms at night. The Swoop-Legged Crythax prey on wood, and they only come out in the dark. We're much better off riding one of those things instead."

Harry followed her pointing finger, she was pointing at one of Hagrid's Thestrals. It had apparently emerged from the woods sometime after they had arrived, and was licking their blood off of the grass. As Harry scanned the Forest, he saw the outlines of several more of the skeletal steeds standing under the cover of darkness, drawn to the scent of blood.

"Alright then, I guess we can try it." Harry said; wincing as his scar twinged. "Hagrid did say they have a great sense of direction. They can't be much slower than the school brooms anyway."

Cautiously he approached the nearest Thestral. "Can you understand me?" He asked, feeling foolish as he did so.

To his surprise, the great beast slowly lowered its silky head, in what was unquestionably a nod.

"Well then, I guess that settles that." Harry muttered. He wound his hand tightly into the mane of the Thestral, placed a foot on a large rock laying nearby and scrambled clumsily on to the horse's back.

He then looked around at the others. Neville had heaved himself over the back of the next Thestral and was now attempting to swing the other leg over the creature's back. Luna was already in place, sitting side-saddle while adjusting her robes as though she did this every day. Hermione was still standing motionless on the spot, staring open-mouthed at the perceived empty space in front of her.

"What?" Harry asked.

"How am I supposed to get on?" said Hermione faintly. "When I can't even see them?"

"Oh, it's easy," said Luna, sliding obligingly from her Thestral and marching over to her "Come here..."

She pulled Hermione over to the other Thestrals standing around, and easily helped her mount the closest one.

She looked extremely nervous as Luna gave her instructions on gripping the Thestral's mane, before patting her on the shoulder and returning to her own steed.

"Everybody ready then?" Harry called out looking around.

At the answering nods, he looked down at the back of his Thestral's glossy black head and swallowed.

"Alright boy," Harry said confidently. "We need to get to Hogsmeade as fast as possible. Will you take us?"

For a moment Harry's Thestral did nothing at all; then, with a sweeping movement that nearly unseated him, the wings on either side extended; the horse crouched slowly, then rocketed upwards so fast and so steeply that Harry had to clench his arms and legs tightly around the Thestral's neck to avoid sliding backwards over its bony rump. He closed his eyes and pressed his face down into the horse's silky mane as they burst through the topmost branches of the trees and soared out into a blood-red sunset.

In a second, they were over the Hogwarts grounds. A few momentsnlater, they were right above Hogsmeade. Harry tugged on the Thestral's mane, and swung him to a steep descent onto the streets of Hogsmeade. Throwing himself off of the Thestral before it even fully landed, Harry sprinted into the Three Broomsticks, the others close behind him.

"_Accio Floo Powder_!" Harry shouted as soon as he was through the door. A small clay pot flew towards him, and with reflexes honed through years of Seeking, Harry snagged it out of the air. He pulled out a pinch, before tossing the pot to Hermione.

Hurling his powder into the warm blaze, Harry roared out his destination. "Ministry of Magic!" The flames flickered green, and he leapt into the emerald fire.

After only a few seconds, he was thrown backwards out of the fire, and it flashed black before suddenly extinguishing. "What!" Harry cried out. "What happened?"

Luna came up behind him. "Floos do that when they've been locked down from the other side Harry." She said surprisingly lucidly. "Something at the Ministry must be interfering with our signal."

Harry turned to look at her. "It's Voldemort! It has to be! He's the only one that would cut off remote access to the Ministry; the working day isn't over yet! He has Sirius!"

Not even waiting for a response, Harry hurtled out the door, vaulting over a stunned Rosmerta, and remounting his Thestral, returning to the sky just seconds later.

Twilight fell: the sky was turning to a light, dusky purple littered with tiny silver stars, and soon only the lights of Muggle towns gave them any clue of how far from the ground they were, or how very fast they were travelling. Harry's arms were wrapped tightly around his horse's neck as he willed it to go even faster. How much time had elapsed since he had seen Sirius lying on the Department of Mysteries floor? How much longer would Sirius be able to resist Voldemort? All Harry knew for sure was that his godfather had neither done as Voldemort wanted, nor died, for he was convinced that either outcome would have caused him to feel Voldemort's jubilation or fury course through his own body, making his scar sear as painfully as it had on the night Mr. Weasley was attacked.

On they flew through the gathering darkness; Harry's face felt stiff and cold, his legs numb from gripping the Thestral's sides so tightly, but he did not dare shift his position lest he slip... he was deaf from the thundering rush of air in his ears, and his mouth was dry and frozen from the cold night wind. He had lost all sense of how far they had come; all his faith was in the beast beneath him, still streaking purposefully through the night, barely flapping its wings as it sped ever onwards.

Thoughts unbidden rose to his mind. Fear that they would be too late, that Sirius would be... "No." Harry said aloud, his voice lost to the wind. "He's still alive, he's still fighting! I can feel it, if Voldemort decides that Sirius isn't going to give him the information... I'd know." The words though morbid, were strangely comforting once said. As if his thoughts lost all their power once they were sucked away into the icy night.

Harry's stomach gave a jolt; the Thestral's head was suddenly pointing towards the ground and he actually slid forwards a few inches along its neck. They were descending at last... he thought he heard a shriek behind him and twisted around dangerously, but could see no sign of a falling body... presumably they had all received a shock from the change of direction, just as he had.

Quite suddenly, it seemed, they were hurtling towards the pavement; Harry gripped the Thestral with every last ounce of his strength, braced for a sudden impact, but the horse touched the dark ground as lightly as a shadow and Harry slid from its back, looking around at the street where the overflowing skip still stood a short way from the vandalized telephone box, both drained of color in the flat orange glare of the streetlights.

Neville landed next to him, falling off of his Thestral as he attempted to dismount it.

Hermione and Luna touched down on either side of him: both slid off their mounts a little more gracefully than Neville, though with similar expressions of relief at being back on firm ground.

"Where do we go from here, then?" She asked Harry in a politely interested voice, as though this was all a rather interesting day-trip.

"Over here," he said. He gave his Thestral a quick, grateful pat, then led the way quickly to the battered telephone box and opened the door. "Come on!" he urged the others, as they hesitated.

Hermione, Neville and Luna squashed themselves into the tight space; Harry took one glance back at the Thestrals, now foraging for scraps of rotten food inside the skip, and then forced his way into the box after Luna.

"Whoever's nearest the receiver, dial six, two, four, four, two!" He said.

Neville did it, his arm bent bizarrely to reach the dial; as it whirred back into place the cool female voice sounded inside the box.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Harry Potter, Hermione Granger," Harry said very quickly, "Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood... we're here to save someone, unless your Ministry can do it first!"

"Thank you," The cool female voice said. "Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."

Four badges slid out of the metal chute where returned coins normally appeared. Hermione scooped them up and handed them mutely to Harry over Luna's head; he glanced at the topmost one, _Harry Potter, Rescue Mission._

"Visitors to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wands for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."

"Fine!" Harry said loudly, as his scar gave another throb. "Now can we move?"

The floor of the telephone box shuddered and the pavement rose up past its glass windows; the scavenging Thestrals were sliding out of sight; blackness closed over their heads and with a dull grinding noise they sank down into the depths of the Ministry of Magic.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant evening," Came the woman's voice, as the lift came to a halt.

The door of the telephone box burst open; Harry toppled out of it, closely followed by Neville and Luna.

"Come on," said Harry quietly and the four of them sprinted off down the hall, Harry in the lead, past the fountain towards the desk where the watch wizard who had weighed Harry's wand had sat, and which was now deserted.

Harry felt sure there ought to be a security person there, he was sure their absence was an ominous sign, and his sense of foreboding only increased as they passed through the golden gates to the lifts. He pressed the nearest 'down' button and a lift fell into sight almost immediately, the golden grilles slid apart with a creak and they dashed inside.

Harry stabbed at the number nine button with a finger; they were off, soon the lift halted, the cool female voice said, "Department of Mysteries," and the grilles slid open. They stepped out into the corridor where nothing was moving out but the nearest torches, flickering in the rush of air from the lift.

Harry turned towards the plain black door. After months and months of dreaming about it, he was here at last.

"Let's go," He whispered, and he led the way down the corridor, Luna right behind him, gazing around with her mouth slightly open.

"OK, listen," Harry said, stopping again within six feet of the door. "Maybe... maybe a couple of people should stay here as a - as a lookout, and -"

"And how're we going to let you know something's coming?" Luna asked, as her eyebrows rose. "You could be miles away."

"We're coming with you, Harry," Neville said firmly.

"We need to get going. It's already been several hours, and the longer we argue the longer this take." Hermione added.

Harry didn't want to take them with him, but he didn't seem to have much of a choice. He thought back to his argument with Hermione that afternoon, and knew that he was being unreasonable. He wouldn't want to be left behind if something like this happened to them. Hermione was his best friend, Neville apparently his brother, and Luna was just... Luna. Her child-like innocence and naiveté lent itself to him wanting to do whatever it took to protect her. Although he barely knew the girl, he could honestly say he felt as close to her as he ever did Ron.

His decision made, Harry turned to face the door and walked forwards... just as it had in his dream, it swung open and he marched over the threshold, the others at his heels.

They were standing in a large, circular room. Everything within was pitch black, even the floor and ceiling; identical, unmarked, handle-less black doors were set at intervals all around the black walls, interspersed with branches of candles whose flames burned blue; their cool, shimmering light reflected in the shining marble floor made it look as though there was dark water underfoot.

"Someone shut the door," Harry muttered.

He regretted giving this order the moment Neville had obeyed it. Without the long chink of light from the torch lit corridor behind them, the place became so dark that for a moment the only things they could see were the sconces of shivering blue flames on the walls and their ghostly reflections in the floor. In his dream, Harry had always walked purposefully across this room to the door immediately opposite the entrance and walked on. But there were around a dozen doors here. Just as he was gazing ahead at the doors opposite him, trying to decide which door was the right one, there was a great rumbling noise and the candles began to move sideways. The circular wall was rotating.

Hermione grabbed Harry's arm as though frightened the floor might move, too, but it did not. For a few seconds, the blue flames around them were blurred to resemble neon lines as the wall sped around; then, quite as suddenly as it had started, the rumbling stopped and everything became stationary once again.

Harry's eyes had blue streaks burned into them; it was all he could see.

"What was that about?" Neville whispered fearfully.

"I think it was to stop us knowing which door we came in through," Hermione said knowingly.

Harry realized at once she was right: he could no sooner identify the exit door than locate an ant on the jet-black floor; and the door through which they needed to proceed could be any one of the dozen surrounding them.

"How are we going to leave?" Neville asked uncomfortably.

"Well, that doesn't matter now," Harry reminded him forcefully, blinking to try to erase the blue lines from his vision, and clutching his wand tighter than ever, "We won't need to get out till we've found Sirius -"

"Don't go calling for him, though!" Hermione said urgently; but Harry had never needed her advice less, his instinct was to keep as quiet as possible.

"Where do we go, then, Harry?" Luna asked.

"I don't -" Harry began. He swallowed. "In the dreams I went through the door at the end of the corridor from the lifts into a dark room - that's this one - and then I went through another door into a room that kind of... glitters. We should try a few doors," He said hastily, "I'll know the right way when I see it. C'mon."

He marched straight at the door now facing him, the others following close behind him, set his left hand against its cool, shining surface, raised his wand, ready to strike the moment it opened, and pushed.

It swung open easily.

This room was much larger than the entranceway. It was lit, albeit rather dimly, by the same blue candles that occupied the entrance room. The center of the rectangular room was sunken into the floor, forming a massive stone pit, some twenty feet deep. The door had led them onto the topmost tier of the steep stone benches that circled the pit. They descended on steep stairs at points, reminiscent of the courtroom in which Harry had been tried the previous summer. The flat base of the pit was barren, save for a rocky archway. It was so ancient, so cracked and desolate that Harry was amazed the thing was still standing. It jutted out from the floor, the only landmark of the room. Despite the lack of a supporting wall, Harry couldn't shake the feeling that it was more a doorway than an arch. As he watched, the tattered black veil that hung from the archway fluttered as if struck by a breeze or the lightest touch.

"Who's there?" Harry said, carefully descending the steep stairs. There was no answer, but the veil suddenly fluttered more violently as if in response to his voice.

"Careful!" Hermione whispered.

Harry cautiously walked down the stairs, one by one until the stairs ended at the flat stone base of the sunken pit. The echoes of his footsteps were deafening as he slowly walked towards the dais. The crumbling archway was much larger than it had seemed when he was looking down at it from the top of the pit. Still, the veil swayed back and forth, as if somebody had just passed through it.

"Sirius, are you in here?" Harry spoke again, but more quietly now that he was nearer.

He had the strangest feeling that there was someone standing right behind the veil on the other side of the archway. Gripping his wand very tightly, he edged around the dais, but there was nobody there; all that could be seen was the other side of the tattered black veil.

"Let's go," Hermione called from halfway up the stone steps. "This isn't right, Harry, come on, let's go."

She sounded scared, yet Harry thought the archway had a kind of beauty about it, old though it was.

The gently rippling veil intrigued him; he felt a very strong inclination to climb up onto the dais and walk through it.

"Harry, let's go, OK?" Hermione said more forcefully this time.

"OK." He said, but did not move. He had just heard something. There were faint whisperings, murmuring noises coming from the other side of the veil.

"What are you saying?" He said, very loudly, so that his words echoed all around the stone benches.

"Nobody's talking, Harry!" Hermione insisted, now moving over to him.

"Can't anyone else hear it?" Harry demanded, the whispering and murmuring becoming louder in the background; without really meaning to put it there, he found his foot was on the dais.

"I can hear them too," Luna breathed, joining them around the side of the archway and gazing at the swaying veil. "There are people in there!"

"What do you mean, 'in there'?" Hermione demanded, jumping down from the bottom step and sounding much angrier than the occasion warranted, "There isn't any 'in there', it's just an archway, there's no room for anybody to be there. Harry, stop it, come away -"

She grabbed his arm and pulled, but he resisted.

"Harry, we are supposed to be here for Sirius!" She said in a strained, high-pitched voice.

"Sirius," Harry repeated, still gazing, mesmerized, at the hypnotic sight of the continuously swaying veil. "Yeah..."

Something finally slid back into place in his brain; Sirius, captured, bound and tortured, and he was staring at this archway...

He took several paces back from the dais and wrenched his eyes from the veil.

"Let's go," He said.

"That's what I've been trying to - well, come on, then!" Hermione said, and she led the way back around the dais, and marched firmly back to the lowest stone bench, before she clambered all the way back up to the door.

"What do you really think that arch was?" Harry asked Hermione as they returned to the dark circular room.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it looks very dangerous," She said firmly, as the others shuffled in behind them.

"Wait!" said Hermione sharply, as Luna made to close the door of the veil room behind them. "_Flagrate_!"

She drew with her wand in midair and a fiery "X" appeared on the door. No sooner had the door clicked shut behind them than there was a great rumbling, and once again the wall began to revolve very fast, but now there was a great red-gold blur in amongst the faint blue and, when all became still again, the fiery cross still burned, showing the door they had already tried.

"Good thinking," said Harry. "OK, let's try this one -"

Once more, the wall spun and became still again. Harry approached another door at random and pushed.

"This is it!"

He knew it at once by the beautiful, dancing, diamond-sparkling light, a long dark hallway lit by the bluebell lamps, and at the end… a doorway glowing with an inner light.

"He's this way!"

Harry's heart was pumping frantically now that he knew they were on the right track; he led the way down the narrow space between the lines of desks, heading, as he had done in his dream, for the source of the light.

"This is it," Harry said again, and his heart was now pumping so hard and fast he felt that it would interfere with his speech, "It's through here - "

He glanced around at them all; they had their wands out and looked suddenly serious and anxious. He looked back at the door and pushed. The door swung open.

They were there, they had found the place: high as a church and full of nothing but towering shelves covered in small, dusty glass orbs. They glimmered dully in the light issuing from more candle-brackets set at intervals along the shelves. Like those in the circular room behind them, their flames were burning blue. The room was very cold.

Harry edged forward and peered down one of the shadowy aisles between two rows of shelves. He could not hear anything or see the slightest sign of movement.

"You said it was row 97 right?" whispered Hermione.

"Yeah," breathed Harry, looking up at the end of the closest row. Beneath the branch of blue-glowing candles glimmered the silver figure 53.

"We need to go right, I think," whispered Hermione, squinting to the next row. "Yes... that's 54..."

"Keep your wands ready," Harry said softly.

They passed row 84...85...Harry was listening hard for the slightest sound of movement, but Sirius might be gagged now, or else unconscious...or... he might already be dead...

_I'd have felt it_, he told himself, _I'd already know_…

"97!" Hermione whispered.

They stood grouped around the end of the row, gazing down the alley beside it. There was nobody there.

"He's right down at the end," Harry said. "You can't see it properly from here."

And he led them between the towering rows of glass balls, some of which glowed softly as they passed.

"He should be near here," Harry whispered, convinced that every step was going to bring the ragged form of Sirius into view on the darkened floor. "Anywhere here... really close..."

"Harry?" Hermione said tentatively, but he did not want to respond.

"Somewhere about... here..." He said.

They had reached the end of the row and emerged into more dim candlelight, there was nobody there.

The room was empty, an echoing silence, that only seemed amplified by the undisturbed dust coating the floor and walls.

"He might be..." Harry whispered hoarsely, peering down the next alley. "Or maybe..." He hurried to look down the one beyond that.

"Harry?" Hermione said again.

"What?" he snarled.

"I... I don't think Sirius is here."

Nobody spoke. Harry did not want to look at any of them. He felt sick. He did not understand why Sirius was not here. He had to be here. This was where he, Harry, had seen him...

He ran up the space at the end of the rows, staring down them. Empty aisle after empty aisle flickered past. He ran the other way, back past his staring companions. There was no sign of Sirius anywhere, nor any hint of a struggle.

Harry dropped to his knees, and slammed his fist into the dusty floor. "He has to be here." He whispered, tears streaming down his face. "Even Snape agreed."

He pounded the floor until his fist came back stained, knuckles ruddy with his own blood. He barely noticed the burn as the years of dirt and dust staunched the flow of blood and clotted around his fist.

The pile of standing water grew as he wept. Sirius was gone, captured by his cousins, and was undoubtedly being tortured as he sat there helpless in the Department of Mysteries. Hermione had been right: it was a trap. And he'd fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.

Harry curled his lip in disgust. He'd never hated himself as much as he did right then. He almost wished he could go and find Weasley and let the bloody git beat him senseless. After all, the bumbling fool had been right, and Harry was wrong. Dead wrong.

"Harry?" Neville called, breaking his reverie.

"What?" He choked out, wiping the tears from his eyes, and cleaning his glasses.

He did not want to hear what he had to say; did not want to hear Neville tell him he had been stupid or suggest that they ought to go back to Hogwarts, but the heat was rising in his face and he felt as though he would like to skulk down here in the darkness for a long while before facing the brightness of the Atrium above and the others' accusing stares...

"Have you seen this?" Neville said.

"What?" Harry repeated, but eagerly this time - it had to be a sign that Sirius had been there, a clue. He strode back to where they were all standing, a little way down row 97, but found nothing except Neville staring at one of the dusty glass spheres on the shelf.

"What?" Harry said again, glumly.

"It's - it's got your name on it," Neville explained pointing.

Harry moved a little closer...

"My name?" Harry said blankly.

He stepped forwards. The ball that Neville pointed at was just out of his sight. He gingerly placed his foot on one of the metal shelves, and pulled himself level with orb. The sphere was just like the others, dusty and filled with a swirling mist.

"Not the sphere." Neville said. "Look at the shelf beneath it."

Harry glanced at it. In spidery writing that was somehow familiar to him, was a date written some 16 years previously, and below that:

_S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D._

_Dark Lord_

_And (?)Harry Potter_

Harry stared at it.

"What is it?" Neville asked, sounding unnerved. "What's your name doing down here?"

"Harry, I don't think you should touch it," Hermione said sharply, as he stretched out his hand.

"Why shouldn't I?" He said. "It's something to do with me, isn't it?"

"Don't Harry," Luna said suddenly. "It's a prophecy sphere. If you touch it, the Hobdewots can control your fate."

"It's got my name on it," Harry said. "I can't leave it."

And feeling slightly reckless, he closed his fingers around the dusty ball's surface. Harry lifted the glass ball down from its shelf and stared at it.

The others moved in closer around Harry, gazing at the orb as he brushed it free of the clogging dust. It flared with an inner light at his touch, and a thought rose unbidden to the forefront of his mind. _Smash it to hear its contents. _

Recklessly, Harry cocked his arm back, and moved to throw it.

Neville's hand closed around his wrist, saving the orb from destruction, and just then, from right behind them, a drawling voice spoke.

"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slow, and give that to me."

**How's Chapter 1? **

**We're running a slightly different posting schedule than I usually do, so bear with me: We currently have a buffer of a chapter and a half or so, so as we do have the next chapter already written. However, this chapter it is not yet set in stone, so any feedback is always considered and appreciated. Chapters will be posted once our buffer is satisfied, however they will not be posted more often than bi-weekly barring special circumstances. **

**Because explaining this is kind of difficult, here's an example: **

**Chapter 1 wasn't posted until Chapter 3 was half-way finished. Likewise, Chapter 2 won't be posted until Chapter 4 has 5k words written, and at least two weeks has passed since Chapter 1 was posted. **

**Alright, last thing. I (I AM ZE BETA), run a Facebook page, you can find the link on my Profile.**

**I keep up a fairly constant updating schedule, containing direct contact with the Authors, sneak peeks of upcoming chapters, polls for upcoming chapters, and of course, my particular brand of sarcasm. **

**-BETA out!**

**Co-Writer/Beta note:**

**First, I would like to thank everyone for taking time to read our story. I hope it was as fun to read as we had writing it.**

**(I AM ZE BETA) is correct there are some names that have the third letter capitalized including most names that start with MC, La and a few others such as McLaren, Star Treks LaForge and my own real last name (McG – first three letters) among others, he agrees that it normally would be LeStrange. However he feels that it looks different from canon that way and wants to keep it as Rowling has it in the books.**

**To me it's a sign of respect to spell it correctly and in the right order (Su Li should actually be Li Su) regardless if the names are fictional or not. We both would be grateful for any thoughts readers may have.**

**SuperNova64.**


	2. The Ministry Gambit: pt 2

**Harry Potter and the World at War**

**Chapter 2: The Ministry Gambit Pt. 2**

His heart thudding violently against his chest, Harry slowly turned to face the voice.

Dark shapes were appearing all around them: more than a dozen cloaked wizards, cold eyes glinting out from beneath their looming hoods; each of them pointing a wand directly at the quartet of students. Behind him, Harry heard Hermione stifle a shriek of terror.

"Give it to me Potter." Repeated the familiar drawling voice. One of the Death Eaters stepped in front of the rest, holding out one of his gloved hands palm up, his wand at the ready in the other

When Harry didn't move, the figure used a flick of his wand to throw back his hood. A gleaming silver mask met Harry's gaze, icy grey eyes seen through slits in the mask. Long blonde hair fell to the wizard's shoulders, leaving no doubt in Harry's mind as to who it was.

They were alone, trapped, and outnumbered by more than three to one.

Lucius Malfoy beckoned with his outstretched hand once more. "Give it to me."

Harry's mind raced, if they were here then...

"Where's Sirius?" Harry demanded, swiveling in place, aiming his wand at each Death Eater in turn.

He wasn't sure exactly what he'd expected their response to be, but the group of cold killers bursting into raucous laughter certainly wasn't it. A harsh female voice came from the midst of the shadowy figures. "The Dark Lord is never wrong!"

"Indeed he is not." Malfoy agreed softly. "Now hand over the prophecy Potter. I won't ask again so nicely."

"I want to know where you're keeping Sirius!" Harry shouted desperately.

Malfoy and his fellow Death Eaters had closed in so that they were only mere feet away from Harry and the others, the light from their wands dazzled Harry's eyes, making it hard for him to focus.

"You've got him!" Harry insisted, ignoring the rising panic in his chest, the overwhelming dread that had been threatening him since they had first entered row 97. "I know you do, I saw it!"

The woman who'd spoken previously threw her head back in laughter again. "Poor baby Potter. He had a really scary bad dream, and when he woke up he was so sure that it was real!" She said mockingly. "But then again, when a baby loses his parents, he never really grows up does he?" Harry felt Neville tense up beside him.

"Don't." Harry muttered to Neville. "Not yet, save your strength. She'll get hers in the end."

The woman who had mimicked him let out a raucous scream of laughter. "Do you hear him? Do you all hear him? He's giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!"

"Oh, you clearly don't know Potter as I do, Carrow," Malfoy said softly. "He happens to have a great weakness for heroics. Draco has kept me well informed as to the comings and goings of the Boy-Who-Lived: the Hogwarts rumor mill is legendary. He fought our master over the Philosophers Stone when he was 11, he destroyed an ancient Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets at 12 years old, he banished over a hundred of the Dementors of Azkaban with a single Patronus less than a year later, and of course, nobody can forget the farce of a Tournament last year, where he dueled the Dark Lord and survived. These heroics are as much a part of him as your stubby fingers are of you Alecto. The Dark Lord understands this as do I. Now give me the prophecy, Potter."

"Sirius is here." Harry said confidently, although panic was seizing his chest, causing it to constrict and felt as if he couldn't breathe properly. "I know he was captured by the Black sisters!"

More of the Death Eaters broke into laughter, though the woman laughed loudest of all.

"You are almost 16, it's about time you start to learn the difference between life and dreams, Potter," Malfoy said. '"Now hand over that prophecy, or I'll let Alecto off her leash. And believe me when I tell you, she makes Bellatrix look tame in raw power."

There was a soft crack, and another black shape emerged into the chaos. "Is that what you think Malfoy?" The newcomer laughed. "Then you are sorely mistaken. There is none stronger than I in the Death Eater's ranks, save for the Dark Lord himself. But then you would know that wouldn't you Lucius? You can't even compete with your ex-wife. Poor Cissy, she always did have low standards."

Bellatrix's comment drew light laughs from most of the surrounding Death Eaters, save for Malfoy, and the one he called Carrow. Malfoy growled, and raised his snake headed wand.

"You want this thing?" Harry asked, drawing their attention back to him. He raised his wand, leveling it square at Malfoy. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Luna, Neville, and Hermione's wands all rise around him. The knot in his stomach tightened even further. If Sirius was really safe in the security of Grimmauld place… he'd led his friends to their pointless deaths.

Yet none of the Death Eaters took the bait.

"Hand over the prophecy and no one needs to be hurt." Malfoy said coolly. "As the commander of this mission, I swear that we will let you walk free."

"You overstep your bounds Lucius." Bellatrix hissed out. "I still hold the position of second in the Death Eater's ranks, the Dark Lord may have made you leader of this mission, but my authority still outranks yours."

It was Harry's turn to laugh.

"You guys are pathetic. You are both too focused on your petty rivalry to care about us, and you are actually foolish enough to think that I'll just hand you the prophecy!" He said. "I give you this - prophecy, is it? And you'll just let us go on our merry way? Bullshit."

The words had barely left his lips when Carrow shrieked out a spell. "_Accio"_

Harry had been expecting something of that nature, and with a hurried: "_Protego_," the glass ball hardly twitched in his hand as the transparent blue shield sprang before him.

"Nice try, you almost got past the guard of a fifth-year, what's next? Trying to kill a toddler? Wait. Your master tried that already, and we all saw how that ended up." His voice projected a confidence that he didn't feel, panic was continuing to set in. Would he be able to get his friends out alive?

"You dare?" the demented Carrow hissed. Her mad eyes stared unblinkingly out of the depths of her hood. "I'll tear you apart where you stand Potter!" She raised her wand, raw unbridled magic gathering at the tip.

"I TOLD YOU! NO!" Malfoy roared at the insane woman. "If you destroy it, we're all dead!"

A jet of orange light left Bellatrix's wand, hitting Carrow in the chest, sending bright orange sparks dancing across the entirety of her body. Carrow dropped to her knees, writhing in pain.

Bellatrix shook her head disdainfully. "Fool. If you want power Malfoy, you have to show that you've earned it. Carrow will not disobey my orders again. Should she survive of course."

Malfoy gulped audibly, but spoke firmly. "I am in charge of this mission, not you Black. Our orders are simple, obtain the prophecy. Carrow was quelled by my voice alone; you didn't need to hit her with a Defibrillation hex. There is much to be said for the threat of violence rather than violence itself."

Harry's mind was racing as he watched the exchange. Clearly the Death Eaters were told to retrieve the prophecy sphere intact. As far as he was concerned, they could have it. He didn't care about the dusty spun-glass sphere. He just wanted to get all of them out of the Ministry alive, to make sure that none of his friends would pay the ultimate price for his stupidity.

"Perhaps you need more persuasion as to my resolve my dear Bellatrix." Malfoy said. He pulled his silver mask off, tossing it aside, the metallic clang echoing throughout the dusty room. Without the cover of the mask, Harry could tell that Malfoy was nervous. His chest was rising and falling very rapidly, small beads of sweat dotted his brow, and his grey eyes were wild with a manic look.

"Suit yourself." Bellatrix said. "I'll stand aside, and let you have your way. For now... Should you prove yourself inadequate again... well, I'm sure that you can imagine something suitably violent."

"Very well" Malfoy said nervously. He turned to two of the larger Death Eaters "You two take the blonde girl. Let him watch while we torture her. That will break him, In fact... Bring her to me, I'll do it myself."

Behind him, Harry felt the other flank Luna protectively; he stepped sideways, so that he was standing directly in front of her. Very slowly and deliberately, he raised the prophecy to his chest, the dim light glinting off of it.

"If you want to get to her, you'll have to go through this." He said, waving the orb around with a facade of confidence. "If you attack any of us, I'll smash it. I don't think that your Master would be all that happy if you go back to him without it."

Leaning forward, he mock whispered: "Between you and me, you won't want to see that. I've seen him when he gets angry. It's not a very fun time for anybody, especially those that disappoint him." He laughed. "That won't be an issue for me though; I don't have deal with him."

Harry straightened up, meeting Malfoy's eyes. "What will it be Malfoy? Do you want to risk it? Risk me dropping the prophecy as I get stunned? Or worse, I decided to block the spell with the orb? Take your move ferret, I'm ready for you."

The older man didn't move, save for the instinctual twitch towards his snake-headed wand.

Harry snickered, before his expression hardened. "So what's the deal with this prophecy anyway? Is Voldemort hoping that it contains the results of his pregnancy tests? Divination never was old Tommy boy's strong suit."

Harry couldn't think of what to do other than keep talking. Neville's arm was pressed against his, and he could feel the tremors of fear run through his god-brother; Luna's quickened breath was hot against the nape of his neck, a sure sign that she was as terrified as him. He couldn't hear Hermione, but doubtless she was in a similar state of fear. He was hoping against hope that at least one of them had some kind of idea as to how to escape the throng of murderers surrounding them.

"What is in the prophecy? You can't be serious." Malfoy asked, with a raised eyebrow. "Do you mean to tell me that the blibbering old fool hasn't even told you yet?"

Harry shook his head lightly, scanning the room. "Nope, I swear to Merlin I haven't heard so much as a peep about its contents." He promised, eyes flicking from Death Eater to Death Eater, searching desperately for a weak link, something they could use to escape. "Why would Voldemort want this damned thing so badly?"

Several of the surrounding Death Eaters let out low hisses, clutching at their forearms. Whether it was from rage or the pain Snape had mentioned, Harry couldn't tell.

"You dare say his name?" Malfoy whispered dangerously. "You dare to cross the will of the greatest Dark Lord since Morgana Le Fey?"

Bellatrix snorted. "Of course he dares. He's one of the few that has crossed wands with the Dark Lord and survived. In my eyes, he's more than allowed to call your Master whatever he wants to. It's not his fault that you aren't able to handle a small twinge of pain from hearing it."

"I've no problem saying 'Voldemort'." Harry agreed. "Hell, I'll call your Master whatever the fuck I want to. I've fought him, I've beat him, I've even fucking killed him, and I'm not about to be afraid of Volde-fucking-mort now."

"Shut your mouth!" A guttural voice snarled. Carrow had apparently recovered from Bellatrix's curse, as she was slowly rising to her feet. "You aren't worthy to speak his name with your disgusting half-blood lips. Your dirty tongue besmirches the great name of the Dark Lord."

"My tongue besmirches his name?" Harry asked incredulously. "He's got dirtier blood than I do."

The assemblage of Death Eaters fell into a stunned silence, as Harry's declaration echoed throughout the Hall of Prophecy.

"He's a half-blood too." Harry told them, feeling reckless. "Admittedly, his mum was a witch, but, his dad was a dirty Muggle. And in the Pure-blood society, that puts me above him. I'm at least descended from two magic-users, even if one of them was Muggle-born."

"STUPEF-"

"NO DON'T!"

Malfoy deflected Carrow's hex faster than Harry would've believed the aristocrat could move. The red jet of light was knocked aside by his wand, and slammed into one of the lower shelves of prophecies, bringing them all crashing down and shattering in a shower of dust and glass.

Several figures made of a fluid smoke unfurled themselves from the fragments of broken glass upon the floor and each began to speak; their voices vied with each other, so that only fragments of what they were saying could be heard over Malfoy and Carrow's shouts.

"...and at the 54th solstice of winters eve, will come a new..." said the figure of an old, bearded man.

"WE NEED THE FUCKING PROPHECY YOU DUMB BINT!" Malfoy screamed.

"...and yet, not one will come after..." said the figure of a young woman.

"HE DARED TO SAY THE DARK LORD'S NAME." Carrow roared back, so loud that the shelves of prophecies shook under the force of her voice. "IF HE KNEW, HE'D WANT US TO KILL THE BOY!"

The two figures that had erupted from the shattered spheres had melted into thin air. Nothing remained of them or their housings; save for fragments of glass upon the floor. Even so, they had left behind something... an idea of Harry and the others could escape. The problem was going to be informing the others.

"THE DARK LORD HAS A MUCH GREATER CLAIM TO THE DEATH OF HARRY POTTER THAN YOU DO CARROW!" Malfoy spat. "HE WILL WANT TO DO IT PERSONALLY; HE DOESN'T WANT TO HAVE THE GREATEST SUCCESS OF HIS LIFE BE TAKEN FROM HIM BY ONE OF HIS SERVANTS!"

"You still haven't told what's so special about this prophecy I'm supposed be handing over." Harry interrupted, idly tossing the dusty glass orb up and down.

His sudden ploy worked, every Death Eater except for Bellatrix was eyeing the prophecy sphere hypnotically, apparently, they feared Voldemort's wrath more than they did anything he could come up with. To be fair, he could only kill them, Voldemort would do much worse. Slowly, he nudged the foot beside his.

"What?" Hermione whispered in his ear.

"Dumbledore really never told you that the reason you bear your famous scar was hidden deep within the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?" Malfoy sneered. "I should have expected as much from the old fool he's always held the cards too close to his chest."

"What?" Harry demanded, and for the moment, he'd completely forgotten his plan. "What does my scar have to do with this prophecy sphere?"

"What?" Hermione whispered again, more urgently this time.

"I don't believe it." Malfoy crowed, with sadistic delight evident in his tone.

Under the cover of Malfoy's gloating Harry hissed his plan out to Hermione, moving his lips as little as possible. "Smash the shelves-"

"Dumbledore never told you?" Malfoy repeated joyfully, "That certainly explains why it took almost a year for you to come here. After all, the Dark Lord was so sure -"

"- on my signal." Harry finished.

"-that you'd come running down to the Department of Mysteries as soon as he showed you where it was hidden. He thought that natural curiosity would have made you want to hear the exact wording of the prophecy." Malfoy concluded.

"Did he?" Harry asked calmly, as if they were discussing nothing more than the weather. Behind him, he felt the brief rustle as Hermione passed his message along to the others. "Why did he want me to come get it?"

"Why?" Malfoy laughed cruelly. "Because, the only people that can physically retrieve a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries are those whom are mentioned in the prophecy. The Dark Lord discovered as much when he attempted to use others to steal it for him. Sturgis Podmore, Broderick Bode, and several others all failed him."

"But why would Voldemort want to steal a prophecy about me?" Harry asked again. He was still confused as to the Dark Lord's motives.

"Not just you Potter." Bellatrix interjected. "It was about both of you."

Harry shifted his gaze to her.

"Indeed." Malfoy said, smoothly returning the focus of the conversation to him. "Haven't you ever wondered why the Dark Lord tried to kill you? What could have possibly happened to result in him personally taking part in the deaths of a simple Half-blooded family?"

Harry met Malfoy's icy grey eyes. Was it possible? Did this useless glass sphere hold the secrets to his past? The reason behind his lightning-bolt scar?

"Somebody made a prophecy about Voldemort and me?" He asked quietly, never breaking eye contact with Malfoy. His fingers tightened over the warm glass sphere in his hand. It was hardly larger than a Snitch and still gritty with dust. "And he's made me come and get it for him? Why couldn't he come and get it himself?"

"Get it himself?" Malfoy chuckled. "Why would the Dark Lord walk into the Ministry when they are so kindly ignoring his return?"

"The Aurors are too busy chasing my cousin to care about the Dark Lord." Bellatrix added. "He is in no hurry to end that farce anytime soon."

"Just one more thing..." Harry said.

Malfoy met his eyes.

"NOW!" Harry roared.

Three different voices bellowed out "REDUCTO!" Three different hexes flew in three different directions, and three different shelves exploded under the impact as they hit. The towering structure swayed mightily as hundreds of prophecy orbs burst apart, pearly-white figures unfurled into the air and floated there, their voices echoing amid the torrent of crashing glass and splintered wood now raining down upon the floor.

"Get out of here!" Harry shouted as the clouds of dust and glass began to settle, and Death Eaters could see where they were. "Use Disillusionment charms: I'll hold them off for as long as I can!"

"Stop them you fools: the Dark Lord wants to keep Potter alive!" Malfoy roared as the three disappeared with a flurry of magic.

The Death Eaters rushed forward toward the group, jumping over the fallen shelf.

Harry simply stood still as the Death Eaters rushed towards him. As soon as they were close enough, he flicked his wand."_Bombarda!"_

The Bombardment charm detonated against the stone floor, sending large clouds of the marble flying up into the air.

With the billowing clouds of rubble and debris once again hiding him from the Death Eaters, Harry took careful aim. "_Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!"_

The trio of stunners lanced from the tip of his wand, each finding a target, sending them crashing down onto the destroyed floor. Harry grinned: only ten left to go.

He rapped himself on the head with his wand, quickly feeling the familiar icy sensation of Disillusionment washing over him as he murmured the incantation.

Harry took off at a run, hurriedly remembering to silence his trainers, so the Death Eaters couldn't track him by sound. He caught a glimpse of a shape shimmering some distance down the hall.

Running up to where he saw the glimmer, Harry canceled his Disillusion charm. A moment later, Luna materialized before him. "We need to get out of here, if you see any of the others, tell them to head to the room that had all the doors. Don't bother waiting for us, we just need to escape this damn place, it'll be easier if we slip out one by one."

Luna nodded, before disappearing once again under her Disillusionment charm.

Harry reapplied his own charm, and hurriedly made his way down the corridor. He soon reached the entrance of the Department of Mysteries only to gasp in shock. The room that had seemed so ominous when they first arrived was already torn apart. Of the dozen black doors that once loomed imposingly over the marble floor, only two were left standing.

Eight of the Death Eaters were clustered around the room, hurling destructive curses, and devastating hexes at each door in turn. Even so, the two doors that had yet to fall were stubbornly resisting every attempt from the Dark Wizards.

"Maybe this one will work: _Reducto Maxima_!" One of the cloaked figures shouted.

The amplified Reductor curse impacted against the stone frame of the leftmost door. The destructive blue light simply dispersed into the granite harmlessly, leaving the wizard panting from the exertion of a _Maxima-_class spell.

Harry mentally applauded the Death Eater. One of his books for the DA had briefly mentioned spell modifications, as he recalled, there were two levels of power modifiers: _Fortus-_class, and the much stronger _Maxima-_Class. A _Fortus_ spell simply doubled the power by doubling the energy put behind the spell. _Maxima_ spells were over five times as powerful as a standard spell, but drained most users' energy significantly more than a _Fortus-_class. Even so, neither modifier was taught until a Defense Mastery was pursued: most wizards didn't even know that they existed.

Taking careful aim at the cluster of Death Eaters, Harry tried out a spell modifier he'd seen Dumbledore use against the Minister after the latter's pathetic attempt at arresting the Headmaster. "_Stupefy Percussus!_" He whispered, jabbing his wand forward violently, he was unprepared for the sudden backlash of magic as his Disillusionment faded away as his magic shifted to the new spell.

A sphere of red energy gathered at the tip of his wand. As he released the magic, it flung itself forward into the group of Death Eaters.

Harry had seen it cast before, but had never tried it himself. He wasn't expecting the strength of the explosion, as modifier took effect. The sphere had exploded into a shower of red light, and Stunned everyone within a 15-foot radius of the initial blast. None of the Death Eaters were standing, and those who were closest to the epicenter had blood leaking from their ears.

Harry cast another batch of stunners at the three Death Eaters furthest from the blast. He recalled a note from the same book saying that those on the edges of the spell may awaken within moments, and he had no desire to get cursed in the back.

Finally sure that the room was secure, Harry, started searching the room. He swore as he realized that of the two doors still standing, one was the door to the Ministry proper. They would have to find another way out.

"Well, well." A mocking voice came from behind him. "Potter alone: Potter defenseless: Potter lost in thought. Whatever shall I do with him?"

Harry turned to see Bellatrix standing over the pile of Stunned Death Eaters. "Lestrange" He said coolly.

"Good work." She said, dropping the baby voice. "Most of these fools can't even muster a simple _Fortus_, let alone attempt to use an advanced modifier." She kicked at one of the masks that had fallen onto the floor, sending it bouncing across the marble, before coming to a noisy stop against a mangled door. "They aren't worthy to lick Voldemort's boots."

"You say the name." Harry pointed out. "Don't you fear your Master's wrath?"

Bellatrix threw her head back in laughter, and for the first time since she had Apparated into the Ministry, Harry saw a glimpse of the manic murderer that he had first seen in Dumbledore's Pensieve.

"The Dark Lord is a powerful wizard." Bellatrix acknowledged. "But he is not omniscient. He didn't see his own downfall at the hands of a half-blooded baby who couldn't wipe his own ass. And he certainly won't see betrayal from within his most loyal."

She met Harry's eyes proudly. "I spent a long time in Azkaban. I didn't have the years of happy memories most did to be taken away, instead I watched myself bow before Voldemort time and time again. I watched my father, the great and noble Lord Black be forced to kneel at a half-blood's feet. I do not fear him."

"I lived like that for 14 years." She said wistfully. "Over 1/3 of my life I was in Azkaban. But for the first time I was free: I wasn't forced to live under fear of my father Cygnus' mighty fist, nor did I have to bend over at the whim of Rodolphus Lestrange. And so, for once I made my own decision. I no longer serve the hopeless bastard who I was forced to marry. After the years of separation broke the slave bond my father signed me into, I am now free to be myself. As for dear Rudy...he is enthralled by my Imperius so deeply, that he wouldn't be able to breathe without my assistance. The Dark Lord trusts me, so he does not attempt to enter my mind. I am free to resist his rule without fear of the consequences."

"Why are you telling me this?" Harry asked. "Why would you risk spilling your secret to a 15 year-old that has a mental link to Voldemort? What do you serve to gain?"

Bellatrix shrugged, a smile playing on her lips. "Who knows? Maybe I want him to find out, so I can see his reaction? Maybe I want you to protect me from the big bad Dark Lord? Or maybe, the rest of the world has been right all along, and I'm just fucking crazy." She laughed. "You'll find out sooner rather than later Potter."

She leaned forward, and pressed a kiss to his lips.

"Toodles Lover Boy: I'll see you real soon!"

And with a crack of Apparition, she disappeared. Stunned, Harry lifted a hand to his lips. It certainly was a better kiss than the one he shared with Cho a few months back.

He stood like that for a few moments. He couldn't understand Bellatrix's reasoning. He certainly couldn't protect her; she was a vastly more capable duelist than he was. He doubted she would want Voldemort to discover her apparent betrayal, and she was vastly saner than he'd have expected from the Prophet's portrayal of her, so he knew that insanity wasn't the answer either. But what was it really?

"Now Potter, why would you leave your back turned to the door." An all too familiar voice drawled from behind him. "What a foolish move, especially in such a dangerous situation."

Harry whirled around, leveling his wand at Lucius Malfoy. The Death Eater had a thin gash running across his face, from his ear to the bridge of his nose, one eye was swollen shut, and his normally perfect hair was frazzled, and in some places scorched by spell-fire.

"Malfoy." Harry snarled in greeting.

"I must admit." The man said conversationally. "We didn't expect your friends to put up such a fight."

Despite the situation, Harry felt himself grin. "What can I say, we're Dumbledore's Army."

"Ah yes, the moniker of your secret group," Malfoy laughed. "I believe Draco mentioned that to me once upon a time. Tell me, Potter, where is the general of your Army? You'd think that with all the effort that went into protecting that prophecy you're holding, he wouldn't have some alarm spells placed on it? He almost certainly knows that you and your friends are fighting for your lives down here, and yet he does nothing. I wonder why?"

Harry kept his wand aimed at the older man, despite the fear freezing him in place. Malfoy was right: Dumbledore should have been here by now.

"Congratulations." Malfoy continued. "You've stunned 11 Death Eaters tonight. Yet with a simple movement," He flicked his wand. "They can be revived."

Each of the 8 Death Eaters lying in the room returned to their feet, laughing, they moved into a circle surrounding him.

Each aimed a wand at him, leaving him surrounded and alone.

"Carrow and the Lestranges are dueling your friends." Malfoy told him. "Those students are no match for wizards of their caliber. That leaves the 9 of us to take the prophecy from you."

Harry withdrew the glass sphere from his pocket. "This?"

Malfoy held his hand out. "Give it to me."

Harry moved as if to step forward, before tossing the prophecy high in the air. All eyes in the room tracked its progress, and Harry took advantage. Holding his wand out, he spun in a circle. "_Stupefy_ _Anulum!_"

A halo of scarlet energy appeared around him, indicating the path of his wand. The ring pulsed, sending a wave of stunners into the surrounding Death Eaters.

The force of the blast knocked most of them off of their feet and into the granite walls; a second pulse from the ring Stunned the few that had escaped the first wave, leaving Harry alone in the center of the room.

Harry cut off the flow of magic, and the halo of energy flickered once before dissipating: Harry then snagged the falling prophecy out of the air, and safely tucked it back into the pocket of his robes.

His legs buckled, dropping him to his knees on the cold floor: the _Anulum_ modifier was far more draining than he had anticipated. Harry needed a moment to recover before moving on: he leaned back against the remnants of a devastated door behind him, and closed his eyes.

*****HP: WAW*****

He woke up gagging, hot steam rushing out of his ears. Neville was supporting his head, pouring a red potion down his throat. "I nicked Snape's stock of Pepper-up and Dittany, I figured that they'd come in handy." The teen explained.

Harry sat up slowly groaning as he did so. He looked around, taking in the state of the room. The Stunned Death Eaters were haphazardly tossed into a pile in the corner of the room, and he was resting on the flat marble floor of the entrance hall.

"You were passed out, surrounded by unconscious Death Eaters when I got here." Neville said. "I didn't know whether or not a Pepper-up would work. But..." His voice trailed off as he gestured at the now conscious Harry.

"Yeah," Harry said slowly. "Some of those spell modifiers... They're fucking brutal."

Neville laughed. "Is that what happened? I came in after I heard a huge explosion, and Malfoy's laying crumpled against the wall, his left leg mangled beneath him. 8 other Death Eaters look like they've been through hell and back, and you're in the middle of the room snoring!"

"Say what you want about the Death Eaters." Harry said, "But you look like you were drug through a pile of swords, and then used as sandpaper."

There were several gashes crisscrossing on his cheek, and his nose was stained with dried blood.

Neville laughed again, touching a hand to his shredded cheek. "Yeah, Carrow got me with a Slicing hex. I ended up banishing her into a wall hard enough that she stopped moving."

"Is she dead?" Harry asked. "I don't want that on your conscience because of me."

"I don't know, and I really don't care." Neville admitted. "While dueling me, she revealed that she had Polyjuiced herself to look like Bellatrix after Voldemort died. She's the one that tortured my parents to insanity."

Harry sucked in a breath slowly. Maybe Bellatrix really wasn't as crazy as she was rumored to be. That would certainly explain her behavior in their encounter. He replayed the incident in his mind. What was her motivation?

"Yeah I know." Neville agreed. "I was shocked too."

Neville got to his feet. "Luna and Hermione were looking for another exit, but something tells me that we're stuck until they unseal the Ministry. The exits automatically go into lockdown at Midnight, and won't open until 6am or until the Minister or Head of the DMLE personally override it. Apparition still works, but the Floo, and the doors to the exterior all seal. Due to its nature, the DOM seals up even tighter, only Apparition in or out until 6am."

Harry grabbed his god-brother's proffered hand, and gingerly stood up. "Let's go get them then."

Neville nodded, before fading under a Disillusionment charm. "You take the lead, I'm going to sneak around, and try to remove a few of the others from the fight."

"That sounds fine." Harry agreed. He looked at where he knew Neville to be standing. "Be safe brother. I don't want to lose you in place of Sirius tonight."

Neville laid an invisible hand on Harry's shoulder. "Don't worry about me."

Harry grinned. "Let's go."

Harry took off down the hallway past the door to the room with the mysterious veil. Rounding the corner, Harry caught a glimpse of the base of the pit.

Hermione was dueling a large Death Eater clad in a bronze mask. She was firing off a wide variety of spells, but he deflected each with ease, coming closer with every move. He was only a foot away when Harry moved into action.

"_Stupefy!"_ He roared, taking aim from the top of the pit. His spell knocked the Death Eater forward, throwing him directly onto Hermione.

"Fuck!" Harry swore. "_Accio_ Death Eater!"

The massive hulking figure flew up towards him, bouncing against the stone steps, and Harry barely rolled out of the way, letting the bronze masked Death Eater's body lying on the cold granite stairs.

"Sorry!" He called out to Hermione, but she simply shrugged, and returned sluggishly to her feet.

"Don't worry about it Harry." She said. "Focus on the Death Eaters, they keep coming!"

Harry nodded grimly, keeping a firm grip on his wand as he rapidly made his way down the steps to her. "I've noticed that. I've stunned dozens already, but they just seem to keep coming with no end in sight."

The air next to him shimmered as Luna faded into view, battered and bruised, with a light gash across her bare forearm. "Don't stun Harry." She said. "I dropped several of them from behind, and they just keep picking each other up. We need to hit them something a little more permanent."

"Of course," Hermione cried eagerly: "Bewitched sleep!"

At Harry's blank stare, she elaborated. "It's what Fleur tried to do to the dragon last year in the Tournament. It puts the target into an enchanted sleep, one that lasts for exactly an hour, nothing can wake them up."

Neville appeared in midst of the group, looking much the same as when Harry last saw him.

He shook his head grimly. "Not going to work Hermione. It takes too long to take effect. No, we're going to have to take care of them the way they tried to do to us: with lethal force."

"You can't do that!" Hermione said angrily. "They're still people! What gives you the right to decide if they live or die?

"To start with, some of them tortured my parents into insanity." Neville said coolly.

Hermione sputtered, "So?"

"So," Neville continued. "They're no longer human in my eyes. They are now nothing more than animals fit for the slaughter."

Luna nodded in agreement. "These may be human beings Hermione, but they are trying to kill us. We can't leave them to keep picking each other up. We need to kill them, or else we won't even survive until the dawn."

Hermione sighed, her rage deflated. "I was raised differently. I don't think I can kill anyone."

Harry took her hands in his, and looked directly into her chocolate eyes. "Look at me. These Death Eaters would happily kill those people who raised you. Worse yet, they might Imperious your father to rape you and your mother to death."

He felt the tremor as Hermione shuddered under his grasp. "I know it's uncomfortable to think about, but it's true. These animals get off of on pain and destruction, they relish in it. Malfoy and the others would force your father to do it, and laugh at his anguish. Do you really think that they deserve a chance to do that to another family?"

Hermione shook her head, righteous rage evident in her eyes. "No, you're right. They are nothing but animals. Stunners are too easily stopped."

"Even Malfoy said as much when he confronted me." Harry told her. "He said that Stunning is easy to reverse, before reviving the 8 Death Eaters I had stunned already. Trust me, if I hadn't had the prophecy, they would have killed me."

"Who do we have left?" Neville asked. "I took out Carrow, and I doubt she'll get up again. If she lived, then she has shattered bones. If not, than we don't need to deal with her at all."

"Bellatrix is still out there." Hermione noted.

Harry shook his head. "I don't think she'll be an issue. I fought with her briefly, and then she Apparated away." He didn't know why, but he didn't want the others to know about his conversation with the Dark Witch.

"Both Lestranges are running around, we stunned one, but the other escaped." Luna pointed out. "By now, he's probably picked up his brother, and has rejoined the others."

"Maybe," Harry said, "But I stunned the other 9 up by the exit. Malfoy's leg is broken, I doubt he can fight very well, and the others have been stunned two to three times each. I don't think they'll be awake anytime soon."

"Maybe not, but I know that one of the Lestrange brothers at least carries a potions bandolier." Neville added. "He might have some Pepper-up, or some other Dark potions that'll give them their energy back. And after I beat Carrow, she activated her Dark Mark before she stopped moving. I'll bet that backup is on the way, and it's not for us."

"Then let's take care of the ones that are still unconscious." Harry said decisively. "If you see any Death Eaters, kill them. We can't risk them getting all that extra support in addition to the dozen already here."

"We need to split up again." Neville said. "If we are together, one blast can take us all down, just like what Harry did to the Death Eaters. The Order should be here soon, and until then, we need to bide our time, and try to survive."

"Ok then, let's split up into pairs: Hermione, you and Neville go check on Carrow, see if she is still alive, then search for Lestrange, and his brother." Harry ordered.

Both nodded, before heading to a hole that had been blasted into a wall during the fight.

Harry turned to Luna. "We'll check on the Death Eaters in the entrance hall."

He climbed up the stairs, returning to the top of the huge stone pit. As he turned away, he could hear the whispers from the veil, calling him; begging him to return.

Yet, he walked towards the door, his only focus on saving the lives of those who had risked coming with him to their possible death. Harry didn't know where the morbid thoughts had suddenly come from, but suspected it had to do with his proximity to the veil. Shuddering, he stepped across the threshold of the door, into the long black hallway, lit only by the flickering blue lights of the bluebell lamps, immediately, the voices silenced, fading into nothing.

When Harry exited the corridor into the entrance hall, he was immediately struck by the vast emptiness of the chamber. None of the Death Eaters were still piled against the wall, and even the rubble had been Vanished away, the only thing in the room was the silver mask that Bellatrix had kicked earlier.

Harry cautiously explored the large room, but couldn't see any trace of where the Death Eaters had gone. He had a sinking feeling that they were lying in wait, preparing an ambush.

"Luna." He called out quietly, wincing as his voice echoed, the volume amplifying with every repetition. "We need to split up again. Disillusion yourself, an-"

He was interrupted as a flash of green light caught his attention. Without thinking, he tackled Luna, knocking her out of the way. He continued his momentum and rolled to his feet, straightening up and catching a glimpse of his attacker.

Harry recognized the man's long twisted face as Antonin Dolohov from the Daily Prophet articles on escaped Death Eaters, notorious for having killed the Prewitt brothers. The man's mask was nowhere to be found, presumably one of the ones lost after Harry's _Percussus_-Class Stunner.

He leveled his wand at the man, keeping a semblance of calm, even as his heart pounded against his ribcage. "That was a mistake Dolohov." Harry said. "If you'd caused me to smash the prophecy..."

He let the threat hang in the air. Dolohov simply shrugged. "Then I'd show my master my memory of its contents. He is a great wizard; he would be able to discover its secrets."

Dolohov flung a silent curse at Harry suddenly, who simply stepped aside, letting it crash into the wall behind him, showering the floor with shards of granite.

Harry cast his gaze around, realizing that Luna had disappeared. He hoped she'd followed his order, and hidden herself. After only one spell, he could tell that Dolohov was not to be toyed with: he was brutally powerful. Harry knew he would have to be very careful lest he be killed in seconds.

"The Dark Lord has quite the price on your head boy, and I think he will reward me greatly for bringing him both you and the prophecy." Dolohov said, smirking at Harry. He drew his wand, casually aiming it at Harry.

Harry saw the movement, and tightened the grip on his wand, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet.

With a flick of his wrist, Dolohov flung a brutal looking slash of silver magic at Harry.

The teen dropped into a crouch, letting the spell whirl above his head, and crash into the granite walls, leaving a massive gouge. A Severing charm then: Dolohov certainly wasn't pulling any punches: that curse would have sliced Harry in two.

"It's my turn now." Harry said coolly as he straightened up again.

"_Depulso_!" Harry roared, jabbing his wand at Dolohov. The Banishing charm struck the Death Eater in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. The force of the spell flung Dolohov backwards into the wall several feet off the ground, before crashing on to the cold stone floor.

Dolohov sprang back to his feet, wiping a line of blood from his chin with the sleeve of his robe. "Impressive." He muttered, staring at the speck of blood on his cuff. "You actually managed to hurt a Pure-Blood. I guess your Potter heritage rings true."

A slash of his wand loosed a second Severing charm, even larger than the first. Harry was amazed at Dolohov's raw power: the Death Eater put more magic behind each spell than he'd ever seen before: for all his faults, Dolohov was a gifted wizard.

Harry simply leapt straight up, the spell splashing against the wall behind him, adding to the numerous scars it held from the night's battle.

"_Accio Granite Dust_!" Harry shouted, nesting his wand into the palm of his hand. A small collection of the granite dust flew up off the ground into his cupped palm.

"_Mutatio_!" Harry prayed.

The dust rapidly morphed into a 12 foot coil of iron chain.

Harry let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding. The all-purpose Transfiguration spell was a risky move, if he didn't have enough willpower, or enough magic, the spell would fail. With Transfiguration, specificity was always better.

Harry flung the chain at Dolohov, who casually knocked it aside with a Banisher.

"_Animar_!" Harry cried taking advantage of the Death Eater's distraction, the jet of green light struck the chain, and it came to life, striking like a snake, attempting to ensnare Dolohov.

While the Death Eater battled the chain, Harry took a chance to catch his breath. He'd never maintained a Transfiguration spell in combat before. He'd underestimated the drain on his magical reserves.

Dolohov flung a variety of explosive hexes at the chain, but it simply weaved around them, the spells either missing the chain entirely, or slipping in the gaps in between the links of iron. Dolohov was reeling back, almost frantically casting at the animated chain, attempting to dispel it.

Harry took careful aim at the Death Eater; he knew he would only get one shot... "_Pierciero._" He whispered.

The dirty yellow curse shot forth from his wand, lancing towards Dolohov. He reacted with an inhuman speed, reeling backwards, in an effort to avoid the Piercing hex. Still, the beam scored a thin line across his throat, blood instantly beading up from the wound.

Harry's distraction paid off though, the chain seized the opportunity, and struck, coiling around Dolohov's throat.

"Not sure if that's what they meant by putting pressure on the wound, Antonin." Harry quipped, straightening up from his battle crouch.

The Death Eater opened his mouth to reply, and the chain promptly gagged him with its coils, effectively silencing him.

Dolohov's shouts were muffled by the links, and Harry clicked his tongue, shaking his head.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you not to speak with your mouth full?" He asked. "How rude."

The lower half of the length of chain suddenly exploded, splattering hot specks of molten iron against the Harry and the wall.

Dolohov pulled the lifeless links of iron from his mouth tossing it aside.

"You fucking Half-Blooded bastard! Let me show you the curse that killed 14 Auror when they tried to arrest me."

He slashed his wand in front of him cruelly, the very air rippling with magic. "_Lacero Incendius Maxima!_" A purple arc of flame spat from the end of his wand, tearing through space between rapidly.

Harry let himself fall backwards, the Flame Cutter passing mere inches above his nose. The spell scorched his skin from sheer proximity, a livid burn forming immediately, even more surprising, the force thrust him flat on his back against the cold marble floor even though it missed.

The purple flames danced in the gouge left by its impact, the Dark Magic radiating from the cursed fire.

Harry slowly returned to his feet, wincing as the seared skin stretched painfully.

"So that was the feared Flame Cutter." He said matter-of-factly. "I can see why you were one of the top Death Eaters."

"The Death Eaters have returned in full force." Dolohov hissed, slowly starting to circle Harry. "I AM one of the top Death Eaters."

"You're also nearly 70 years old, following a decrepit half-blood who lived life less than a Squib for 13 years." Harry pointed out, matching Dolohov's movements. "As far as I am concerned, neither you nor your fearsome Dark Lord of a master are anything to fear."

The Dark Wizard hissed with rage, leveling his wand. "You blasphemous..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Harry interrupted. "I've heard it before." His face hardened as he took a battle stance. "Talk's cheap: time to back it up."

Dolohov stepped in closer, "You dare to interrupt me? So be it Potter. Dark Lord's wishes or not, you die tonight."

He stepped forward again, now only a few feet away from Harry. Slowly, he brought his wand up, its' tip leveled directly at Harry's scar. "_Lacero Incendius Maxima!_"

Harry knew he had no time to dodge, and instead, cast the first spell he thought of.

"_Depulso!_" The Banisher struck Dolohov's curse in mid-air, knocking it off course, destroying a large chunk of the southern wall.

Harry was as stunned as Dolohov that his ploy worked, but he didn't waste time gaping at the scene. Instead, he fired off a second Banisher, knocking Dolohov back, opening up some space between them.

"_DEPRIMO MAXIMA_!" Harry roared, replaying his trick from earlier in the night. The stone floor exploded, leaving a large crater, throwing hot shards off rock into the air.

"_Accio!_" A calm voice called out. The rubble fell to the ground, save for a single thin slab of debris which hung in the air for a moment, before rushing towards the caster.

Luna stood there, wand raised high. Harry could hardly see her behind Dolohov's burly frame.

Dolohov spun around, wand raised. Luna waved cheerfully, before diving off to the side. Dolohov's gaze followed her movement, not even seeing the slim slab of stone flying straight towards him.

The slab bisected through his skull diagonally, shearing half of the Death Eater's head clean off. A long spray of blood and brain matter splattered against the wall, extinguishing the remnants of the Flame Cutter curse, as the slab of skull bounced against the wall, spinning briefly on the stone floor, before finally coming to a stop.

Harry couldn't believe what he'd seen. "I'm sorry." He choked out, sinking to his knees.

"Whatever for?" Luna asked, tilting her head inquisitively.

"For-" He trailed off, gesturing at Dolohov's destroyed corpse. "You shouldn't have had to do that."

Luna shrugged. "It doesn't bother me. I've seen it before. Journalism is a dangerous line of work, and Daddy's had to fight people who have entered our property in the past. Not to mention those that want to silence his news."

Harry just stared at her, his shock forgotten. "What the hell was your childhood like?"

Luna looked up in thought. "Hmm. Lot's of pretty flashing lights. A few loud bangs, oooh and some cool animals. And I almost forgot, that at one time I stole Daddy's wand, and turned the house inside out."

Harry blinked rapidly, trying to process what the blonde was telling him. Eventually, he gave up. "We need to go, Dolohov was bad enough, there are still at least 10 Death Eaters running around. I don't know how much longer we can last."

There was a sudden thunderous BOOM, rocking the Department of Mysteries.

Harry sprang into action immediately. "That came from the Hall of Prophecy! Luna come on, we need to get there NOW! The others must be fighting!"

Harry took off down the hallway, Luna hot on his heels. The long black hallway towards the Hall of Prophecy was notably dark, the blue flames extinguished, leaving only the suffocating gloom.

Harry slowed as he approached the dark corridor. "_Lumos Solemn._" He whispered.

The Sunshine spell conjured a ray of blinding white light from the tip of his wand, flooding the area with light. He mentally thanked Sprout for teaching them that spell, generally it was used to give indoor plants access to sunshine, or to repel Devil's Snare. The imposter Moody however had reminded the class that the spell was useful for defense too. It could temporarily blind an assailant, or in extreme cases, burn a Vampire to ashes, for a much lighter energy cost than most defensive magic.

Carefully, he examined the hall, but it appeared empty. Slowly, they advanced, watchful of an ambush. However, they made it to the other side without incident. Luna gasped suddenly, before elbowing Harry in the ribs and pointing.

Neville and Hermione were back to back, in the midst of the fallen shelves, trading spells with at least 6 Death Eaters surrounding them. As Harry watched, Neville's Bludgeoning charm knocked three of the Death Eaters over, and a Blasting curse destroyed them in a crimson shower of hot sticky gore. A severed arm flew past him, followed a large chunk of torso.

Hermione wasn't faring so well: she wasn't Stunning any longer, but she also wasn't using lethal spells. A well placed Sticking charm locked a Death Eater in place, a Full-Body-Bind took another out the fight, and the last was Silenced, before being bound in conjured ropes, and hit with a weak Freezing charm, encasing them in a thin layer of ice.

The Stuck Death Eater flung a spell at Hermione's unprotected back, but she dodged it, and returned fire with a Slicing hex, lopping off the Dark Wizard's wand arm.

Neville sprinted down one of the aisles, going after another batch of Death Eaters. Hermione stopped, resting her hands on her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks. Luna left Harry's side to go help their bookish friend.

Harry felt odd, standing back, but he knew that after what he'd caused Luna to do to Dolohov, Hermione would want nothing to do with him. Instead, he just watched.

The two girls conversed briefly, before splitting up further. Hermione vanished down one of the numerous rows of shelving, and Luna hung back, cleaning up some of the debris, opening up a clear path.

Harry turned away. He didn't want to see them acting so... _normal_. He'd caused them to become killers. Luna had murdered Dolohov in cold blood, Neville had taken out at least four of the Death Eaters, and even Hermione had permanently maimed a Death Eater, yet he was without blood on his hands.

"_Imperio!_"

The sudden shout caught his attention, and he whirled around. The second Death Eater had escaped Hermione's Body-Bind, and was now standing free, his wand leveled at Luna.

"Excellent." The man hissed. "Now my little pretty, I have a _problem_ I need your help with."

Luna's gaze was blank as she responded listlessly. "Yes Master."

"Get on your knees bitch." The Death Eater ordered. "You've led us on a merry dance across the Department of Mysteries all night, and it's time you repaid me for my efforts.

Harry gulped as he realized what was going to happen. He drew his wand, but he was too far away, the angle was wrong, he couldn't prevent it.

The man shrugged his robes off, and moved to unbutton his pants, as Luna looked up expectantly from where she kneeled on the floor.

"_Pierciero!_" A feminine voice shouted out. A thin yellow beam exploded from the Death Eater's throat, leaving a ragged gaping wound.

He attempted to say something, but only a wet gurgle sounded, blood bubbling from the hole in his neck. The Dark Wizard fell backward, his heart still pumping blood out into a pool on the marble floor, slowly ending his life.

Behind him, stood Hermione, she was panting, her wand still pointed at where the Death Eater had been.

Seeing her standing there, Harry felt even sicker: yet again, one of his friends killed, and he was still innocent. Slowly, he backed away from the scene, before running deeper into the Hall of Prophecy.

He fled into the welcoming darkness of a side chamber, falling to his knees against the cool marble, grateful for the all encompassing isolation the dark provided. Strange though it was the blackness of the room was reminiscent of his cupboard, the only place he'd been safe from the Dursley's wrath. Here in the dark he was safe. Here in the dark, nobody could judge him. In the dark, nobody knew that he'd forced his friends to douse their hands in blood to protect his own.

A sudden smattering of footsteps caught his attention, and he looked up, seeing a black cloaked figure walk into the room.

"Well what do you think you're doing in here Potter?" Bellatrix said in greeting.

He met her gaze. "What do you think? Because of me, my friends are all killers. None of this would have happened if I'd seen through Voldemort's ploy."

Bellatrix crouched down to his height. "Yes, your friends have killed, but that doesn't make them killers. As far as most of the Wizarding World is concerned, they're all heroes. Carrow had the blood of thousands on her hands, both Muggle and Magical. Dolohov took the lives of 14 Aurors when he was arrested shortly before Voldemort's downfall. As fo-"

"How do you know who was killed?" Harry interrupted.

Surprisingly, the elegant woman flushed crimson, the color bringing life back into the face that had been ravaged by Azkaban. "I've been watching the events of the night, ready to step in if necessary. As I told you, I've left his service; I fight against the Death Eaters now."

"Look Harry." Bellatrix said, ignoring the boy's gasp at her use of his first name. "I've been in your shoes before. From my 13th Birthday, up until that damned slave bond broke, I wasn't in control of my actions. Yes, Carrow Polyjuiced herself as me to torture the Longbottoms, but I certainly committed a vast number of crimes. The point is, I've been there. The only way to get through it is to stand up, and finish the fight. Your friends were born into a time of war; this has been their destiny since the beginning."

She stood up, dusting her robes off, and walked to the door leading into the Hall of Prophecy. "Good luck Harry. I'll be seeing you soon."

She stepped through the door, and Harry heard the loud CRACK signifying her Disapparition, leaving him alone in the room, more confused than before.

One thing was certain, he decided as returned to his feet, his friends would be far angrier that he had hidden and let them fight alone, than that they had to euthanize some of Voldemort's attack dogs.

His faith in himself once again restored, Harry sprinted out of the room, ready to leap back into the fray.

*****HP: WAW*****

Harry flung a Cutter at a Death Eater dueling Luna as he rounded the corner to join the fight. He didn't stop to see the results, but Luna's shout of gratitude told him he was now a killer as well.

Luna followed him to Row 42, where they could hear fighting. Neville and Hermione were facing off against the two Lestranges, and Malfoy. The destroyed bodies of three Death Eaters lay scattered around the room, various body parts missing.

Malfoy saw them enter, and spun away from the main battle. "Potter: at last you've returned! I guess you got tired of listening to your friends suffer. Give me the prophecy."

"No." Harry said defiantly. He withdrew the prophecy sphere from his robe pocket. "Here's what I think of your demands."

He flung the glass orb high in the air, letting it fall and shatter against the ground. A slim silver figure draped in shawls rose from destroyed sphere. "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches..."

"POTTER YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" One of the Lestrange brothers shouted, spitting with rage. "I'LL KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND!"

"SILENCE!" Malfoy snapped. "We need to listen."

"...Born as the Seventh Month dies..." The prophecy continued.

Harry raised his wand, roaring out the incantation to Dumbledore's Cannon Blast spell.

The thunderous BOOM echoed loudly within the Hall of Prophecy, drowning out the remainder of the prophecy.

Malfoy paced up and down the short hall. "You don't know what you've done Potter."

"With the Prophecy destroyed, we have no reason to keep you alive." He continued. "It's over."

He lifted his wand. "Say goodbye Potter."

CRACK!

Harry's heart soared. Finally, the Order had arrived! They were able to escape!

And then he cast his gaze around.

"Well fuck." Harry said unnecessarily. "That's not good."

There were at least 50 of them, black hulking shapes, silver masks gleaming in the dim light of the Hall of Prophecy. Malfoy was at the front, his leg in a splint, and dried blood crusted on his face. The two Lestranges flanked him on either side. Mingled in with the newcomers, Harry caught a glimpse of Pettigrew's silver hand.

"Any ideas you guys?" He asked the others, who shook their heads in turn.

"Then I guess there's only one thing to-" He was cut off by a loud CRACK, and a white robed shape falling from the ceiling.

"_BOMBARDA MAXIMA!_" A familiar voice shouted. The brilliant white spell detonated in the center of the Death Eater army, several of them vaporizing on the spot, the rest blown off their feet by the force of the blast.

CRACK! The robed figure Disapparated, only to reappear a moment later higher up again with another CRACK!

"_Pierciero. Pierciero. Pierciero._" The trio of Piercing hexes lanced straight at their targets, so quickly, they didn't even have a chance to dodge. The beam drilled a hole in the center of their foreheads, blood immediately welling up as they fell backwards.

CRACK! The figure Disapparated again, this time landing safely in front of the kids; the white hood was pulled back, revealing a familiar shock of spiky pink hair. "Wotcher Harry. Arthur got your message. They should be here soon."

**A/N: Was that different enough from canon for everybody? I guess we'll find out! In other news, thanks for all the support guys! We've received over 200 follows/favorites/reviews in the last two weeks. The first chapter of the story was more well received than we could have ever hoped for! Hope you enjoyed chapter 2!**

**As always check out my Facebook page for more content and sneak peeks! The link is in my profile!**

**-BETA OUT!**

**I don't have anything to add at this time. BETA covered it all. Thanks again guys!**

**-SuperNova64**


	3. The Ministry Gambit: pt 3

**Harry Potter: World at War**

**Chapter 3: The Ministry Gambit Pt. 3**

"Wotcher Harry. Arthur got your message. They should be here soon."

"Tonks!" Harry exclaimed, grinning brightly. "That was fucking awesome!"

She laughed lightly, running a hand through her spiky pink hair. "Thanks Harry."

Her face hardened into an Auror's mask. "Now let's put the rest of these fuckers six feet under."

Harry nodded grimly. "That's what we've been aiming for all night. They just keep coming."

Tonks flinched at the implication. "Did you? That's fucking brutal. They don't teach that until the last week of the Auror training program. For my batch of recruits, they let us think that Stunners were our go to spell, not Bone-Breakers. Until one day, right before the final exam, Mad-Eye Moody pulled us aside one by one, and had us fight a handful of simulacrum enemies. "

Harry wondered at the possibilities for that particular curse, before tossing it aside in favor of the current conversation. "Yeah well, you figure it out real fucking quickly when these jackasses pick each other up only seconds after being Stunned."

"That's exactly what Auror training was like." Tonks told him. "You'd stun them, they'd Rennervate each other, and either you'd figure it out, or you'd fail the exam."

"There was no exam to fail here." Harry laughed bitterly. "It was kill or be killed out here for a while."

"It still is." Tonks warned. "We need to get moving, I can only Apparate one of you at a time, so-"

"It doesn't matter anymore." Neville interrupted, gesturing with his left hand. "Look."

Harry followed his pointing finger. Malfoy was already scrambling to return to his feet, the twenty-odd Death Eaters remaining following suit in short order.

"Fuck." Tonks hissed through clenched teeth. "We can't leave until somebody else gets here. I can't leave any of you here to fight by yourselves, and I can't fucking Apparate all of you at once."

"Fine." Harry said coolly. "We'll fight. We've been fighting these fuckers all night, what's thirty more minutes?"

"Fuck." Tonks said again. "You guys are going to cost me my job..."

"Damn it. Fine," She agreed a moment later. "I'll be in the middle, hopefully drawing their fire away from you guys. Harry, you and Hermione stay on my left, and try to flank them, Neville, you and Luna do the same from the other side. Death Eaters generally can't focus on multiple targets at a time, so you're going to need to hit them hard, and hit them fast."

"We are going to have to kill them, or at the very least, put them down for the night." Tonks continued. "If Hogwarts curriculum is the same as when I went there, you don't know much that can help in the lethal department."

"Not really." Harry agreed. He counted them off on his fingers. "_Confringo, Expulso, Deprimo, Reducto, Bombarda, Depulso, Diffindo, Lacero, Pierciero, Inflecto Telum, Stupefy, Flipendo. _And that's about it."

"Merlin…" Tonks said shaking her head. "You've got 5 different fucking variants of an Explosive hex, but not much else."

"Alright," She said. "I'm going to have you guys try something quickly. The incantation for a Bone-Breaker is _Ossum Fracturum_. The wand movement is a counterclockwise half-circle, followed by a quick jab at your target. You won't have time to practice, so give yourself plenty of room to follow up with something you can do if it fails."

The quartet of students nodded before breaking off into their respective groups. Harry and Hermione ducked behind a pile of upturned shelves, drawing their wands.

Harry chanced a peek above the shelf, catching a glimpse of Tonks dueling twenty Death Eaters simultaneously. She was flinging hexes faster than Harry had thought was possible, Bone-Breakers, Piercers, Cutters, Reductors, and even the occasional Stunner mixed in.

Despite her speed and power, a silvery transparent shield shimmered into existence before each one, easily stopping them. Harry scanned the crowd of Death Eaters, but couldn't locate the one responsible for the Death Eater's line of defense.

"Follow me." He whispered to Hermione. "I think there's only one or two Death Eaters in charge of the defensive magic, the shields are all way too similar to be cast by more than one person."

"So?" Hermione asked in a whisper.

"If we take the one Death Eater out..." Harry prompted.

"Then the rest should fall quickly: we did notice that they were absolutely terrible at shielding against us." Hermione concluded. "They usually relied on dodging if they could, or more often, just taking the Stunner and getting Rennervate a few minutes later."

"Exactly." Harry said. He peered around the corner, and as he'd hoped, all of the Death Eater's focus was on Tonks. Carefully, he gestured with his wand, the simple swish and flick he'd mastered years ago. "_Wingardium Leviosa._"

One of the fallen shelves from row thirty four across the hall slowly rose off of the floor with the light groan of stressed metal. Hermione hastily cast a silencing charm at it, before motioning for Harry to continue.

Noiselessly, it glided above the marble floor, and Harry set it down right next to the one they were currently crouched behind. Using it as cover, the pair made their way around the left flank of the Death Eaters.

Then he saw it. Four Death Eaters stood in a square, facing outwards surrounding a fifth. The one in the center was kneeling over a small ceramic tablet that had a handful of golden Ancient Runes carved on it. The Death Eater was chanting rhythmically at a constant pace, and was tapping the runes in a sequence that Harry couldn't follow. He only knew that whatever the tablet was, it was how the slim Death Eater threw shields up so quickly.

"Do you see that plate?" He asked Hermione in a whisper. She peeked over top of the shelves they were hiding behind, before hurriedly dropping back down. A yellow streak of light flashing above their heads indicated she'd been seen.

"Shit." Harry swore softly. "Disillusion quickly. Meet me over behind row forty eight's shelves."

Not waiting for her reply, he applied a Silencing spell to his trainers, and then rapped himself on the head, feeling the now-familiar icy burn of the magic run down his neck. As soon as it took effect, he dove out from behind the broken shelves, sprinting across the polished marble floor.

And it was none too soon. The shelves detonated only a few seconds after he'd cleared them, flinging hot shards of metal and glass high into the air, peppering him with the hot debris. He could only hope that Hermione had escaped the blast, he had no time to look behind him.

The 5 or so Death Eaters not currently dueling Tonks started randomly throwing hexes around the confined space; Harry dropped to his back, skidding beneath a sickly orange curse that he didn't recognize, feeling the wave of magical backlash scorch the left side of his face as it passed overhead.

He turned the momentum from his slide into a sideways roll, returning to his feet only a moment later. Luckily, his maneuver seemed to have thrown off the Death Eaters, as they kept flinging a barrage of hexes at the gap where he'd been moments before.

Harry dropped to one knee behind an upturned shelf, stopping to catch his breath. He poked his head up above the shelf, scanning the room briefly. He saw Neville and Luna engaging the Death Eaters from the right flank, pulling some of the attention away from Tonks. One of the Death Eaters flung a pair of Explosive hexes at row forty eight's shelves, which glowed briefly, before blowing apart with a BANG!

He ducked back beneath the shelf. "Damn it." He muttered aloud. "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it."

He hadn't seen any sign of Hermione before the shelves detonated, but she was Disillusioned, if she'd gotten caught in the explosion... It was his fault.

He shook his head forcefully, trying to clear his mind of the thoughts. It didn't help anybody to be thinking like that, he needed to focus on the positives. He hadn't seen any sign of Hermione; therefore she had to have survived at the very least. If she was killed, the charm would have faded with her death...

Harry pressed himself tighter against the shelf; he knew he would only have a few seconds at the most before he got caught. "_Homenum Revelio._" He whispered. The spell rushed outward from his wand, swooping over everyone in the room, and at the same time, the Disillusionment washed away, unable to be maintained.

The Revelio spell gave him a brief glimpse of everyone in the Hall of Prophecy along with their locations, and currently there were eighteen Death Eaters along with Tonks, Neville, and Luna in the room.

Numbly, Harry fell back against the heavy shelving, his wand falling from his hand with a light clatter against the marble floor.

The shelving was then torn away from behind him with a spell, leaving him to fall flat on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling.

An unfamiliar burly Death Eater stepped into view, his wand in hand. "I've got you now Potter! There will be no escape this time!"

His wand tip never wavering, the Death Eater turned, shouting over his shoulder. "IT WAS NOTHING! CARRY ON!"

"There. Now they won't interfere." He said, pulling several of the destroyed shelves towards him with a flick of his wand. Another gesture and they rose up as low barricades, but still high enough to hide a tall man standing up.

Harry didn't even blink. Whatever the Death Eater did to him, it was no less than he deserved. He'd gotten Hermione killed, and now probably Tonks and the others too. He simply didn't deserve to survive this battle.

Follow me Potter." The Death Eater snarled. "And none of your funny business. The Dark Lord wants you alive, but he won't care if you're banged up a bit first."

Numbly, Harry followed the man's orders, slowly rising to his feet.

CRACK!

A massive bear-like dog tackled the Death Eater, its huge fangs closing around his neck. With a disgusting sound, it tore the man's throat out, blood cascading from the exposed muscles. Simultaneously, its heavy paw knocked the wand out of the Death Eater's hand, where it spun underneath a shelf.

The dog spat the bleeding flesh out onto the dark floor, before launching itself at the Dark Wizard again. This time his terrible fangs sliced two gouges in the heavy bronze mask, shards of the metal lodging themselves in the Death Eater's eye and brain.

The Dark Wizard sank to floor, unable to withstand the blood loss. He struggled to rise, managing to return to one knee, where with a gasp, he fell back to the floor lifeless.

The black dog reared up on its hind legs, before blurring into the familiar features of Sirius Black.

"That'll teach you to put your hands on my godson again." He growled, kicking the Death Eater in the ribs with his booted foot.

"Sirius!" Harry cried, snapping out of his funk.

"Not the time Harry." Sirius said harshly.

Harry flinched at his tone, it sounded just like Vernon did when he was angry...

"Sorry." Sirius said squeezing his eyes shut tightly, and shaking his head from side to side. "When I'm fighting like that... The Grim tends to take over."

He opened his eyes. "Okay. I'm me again. Sorry, between a triple long-distance Apparition, and fighting that bastard, I lost control. Let's get going Harry; we've still got a shit-ton of Death Eaters to take out before the night is over."

"NO!"

The vehemence in Harry's tone surprised even him. "No." He repeated more softly this time.

"We can't stay. We're dead if we stay. Dead like...like Hermione." He admitted.

"What are you talking about?"

Harry glanced up, meeting Sirius' eyes. "Hermione's dead. We were hiding behind one of the shelves, when the Death Eaters blew it up. I escaped, but when I used _Homenum Revelio_, she wasn't there."

Sirius barked out a laugh, before catching sight of Harry's expression.

"I'm sorry." He apologized solemnly. "When I Apparated in the first time, Hermione had gotten caught in the backlash of an Explosive hex, her Disillusionment had faded, and she was unconscious: I scooped her up and Apparated out, nobody had even noticed my entrance, and the sound was hidden by the noise of all the spell fire in the room. She is alive though, she's laying on a couch in Grimmauld Place."

Harry sighed, scrambling to his feet. "Let's get out of here then."

Sirius shook his head. "We can't!" He insisted.

"Why not?" Harry demanded. "There are twenty fucking Death Eaters over there! Why the fuck would we want to stay?"

"Why?" Sirius cried. "Where's your sense of adventure Harry? We've haven't had a chance like this in decades! Voldemort only had a hundred or so Death Eaters last time, and he didn't commit this many to a battle very often! At least a third of his Inner Circle is here tonight!"

"And so are 4 fucking Hogwarts students!" Harry snapped back. "I don't need a sense of adventure to tell me that we shouldn't risk trying to stay here any longer. As it is, Voldemort himself is probably on his way here right now! Trust me I've dueled him; we don't have what it takes to stop him Sirius!"

His godfather laughed. "What do you mean we don't have a chance? He's one man: fine, one freaky snake-thing. Whatever you want to call him, he can't match us. Moody's the best we've got, he's been fighting for years. Tonks is a Metamorphmagus, unless you've fought one, you can't hope to beat them, because they can move their bodies in ways not even possible. Shacklebolt, Remus, Arthur and I fought in the last war. Four of us have Auror training, one is a fucking werewolf with all the extra strength that provides, and the last is a goddamned Weasley! Voldemort won't know what sucker-punched him in the dick; not until our fists come back out his throat!"

"What the fuck kind of metaphor is that?" Harry yelled. "Why in the name of mother fucking Merlin do you want to touch his dick?"

Sirius just shrugged lightly in response. "Maybe it'd be scaly? I don't know, but to be honest, I'm kind of curious now. But the point is the same; he can't stop the six of us at once."

"You do make a good case of the six of you being a match for him." Harry acknowledged. "But Voldemort isn't like any other wizard, he's faster, stronger, and knows more magic than the rest of us can even imagine."

Sirius scoffed. "Don't you start worrying about me pup. Trust me when I say we can do this."

"If you're that confident that you can stop him..." Harry said dubiously.

"Of course we can." Sirius proclaimed, jabbing himself in the chest. "I've out-dueled the Sisters Black; I could probably stop him by myself if I had to."

Harry shook his head. "Fine… Do what you want, I certainly can't stop you. But if we are going to stay and fight, we need to start fighting. Tonks has been fighting the Death Eaters alone, and while she's nimble, she can't dodge their curses forever, and she can't get anything past that damned tablet."

Sirius looked at him quizzically.

Harry ran a hand through his dark hair, pushing it out of his eyes. "There's this slim guy in the center. He's got some plate of stone: it's got some Ancient Runes carved on it, and every time he activates one, this shiny silver shield blocks everything Tonks or the others can muster."

Sirius stroked his goatee thoughtfully. "I don't really remember what they're called, but I think remember reading about them in Ancient Runes back in school. If I can recall correctly, the easiest way to overload it will be to hit it from multiple locations at once. Of course, that would reveal our position to the Death Eaters..."

"What about a Summoning Charm?" Harry asked. "Would that count as a second spell hitting the shield?"

"Probably," Sirius agreed. "In fact... That's probably our safest bet too. I'll go join Tonks on offense, and you summon the tablet as soon as you hear me cast a spell. If we're lucky, the Death Eater can't do a damn thing about it."

"And if we're not?"

"Then we go to Plan B."

"What's Plan B?"

"B as in Blow this fucking place sky high!" Sirius laughed. "Let's go."

He disappeared with a thunderous CRACK!

"Hey fuckwads!" Harry heard Sirius shout out. "I'll give ten thousand Galleons to the first person to hit me with a curse!"

There was a loud clamor, and Harry heard a new barrage of curses begin.

"Now, now girls," Sirius continued. "I never said I'd stand still."

"_Ossum Fracturum!_" He shouted.

Harry raised his wand. "_Accio Tablet_!"

He felt the familiar rush of the Summoning charm, but the spell failed to actually latch onto to anything, instead simply withering away as soon as he lowered his wand.

"Damn it." He hissed.

"There he is!" A voice shouted from the other side of the shelves. "It's Potter!"

Harry quickly reapplied his Disillusionment Charm, before sprinting out from the cover of the shelves. Neville and Luna were trading curses with a small contingent of Death Eaters, Tonks and Sirius were battling a few others, and the last 5 or so Death Eaters were still protecting the tablet in the center of the room.

A pair of Death Eaters easily broke off from where they'd been fighting Neville and Luna, sprinting over to where Harry had just been.

Taking careful aim, Harry flung a wide Slashing hex at them, bisecting both neatly at chest level.

His Disillusionment gone, Harry joined Sirius and Tonks in battle.

"Did you get the Tablet?" The former asked as he spun past, dodging a spell.

"No," Harry called back, as he hurled a Bombardment charm at the crowd of Death Eaters. "It resisted the summoning. Do you have another idea?"

Harry jumped over a slicing hex, letting it fly behind him harmlessly.

Tonks interrupted him. "What the fuck are you talking about, 'tablets'?"

"That thin guy in the middle." Harry said pointing. "He's got some runic tablet that is summoning the shield."

"Is it a tablet of Algiz?" Tonks asked, blocking a Bone-Breaker with a golden dome shield.

"Maybe? I've got no fucking clue what that thing is." Harry admitted, sidestepping a blue curse.

"Is it ceramic with golden runes?"

"Yeah, I think so anyway." Harry said, trying to remember as he put a Piercer through another Death Eater's eye.

"Fuck." Tonks said.

"Is it as bad as I fear?" Harry asked.

"Worse. A Tablet of Algiz will block all incoming spells, as long as its controller keeps up the spell." Tonks explained. "I don't know of anything strong enough to destroy it."

"Has anyone tried an Unforgivable on it?" Sirius asked, as he joined the conversation.

"I doubt it." Tonks snorted. "Most Aurors enjoy their freedom too much to attempt use such a spell, and only the really old families still have a Tablet of Algiz anyway. The Blacks probably have one in their vault, same with the Potters. To be honest a lot of the Death Eater's Inner Circle would have access to one."

"It's not like Fudge can put any higher of a price on my head." Sirius joked. "_Avada Kedavra_!"

The ominous jet of green light left his wand, speeding across the room, and detonating against the silver shield as it shimmered into view.

It wasn't even a contest. The power of the Killing Curse was too great, and the shield gave way after only a few seconds.

Sirius' aim had been true, and his spell hit the unknown slim Death Eater, who toppled forward limply.

"_Deprimo_!" Harry cried. The tablet exploded with in a flash of white light, sharp shards of ceramic clattering to the floor.

"Now we're talking." Tonks grinned.

"About time," Harry said. "We've only got a few of the key players left to take out."

"Only a few of us left?" Malfoy asked, drawing attention back to him. "They are still ten Death Eaters here Potter. Not to mention that bitch Bellatrix running around somewhere."

CRACK!

"You called?" Bellatrix asked, appearing by Malfoy's side. Meeting Harry's gaze, she winked, so quickly it might not have even occurred.

"We are the Dark Lord's best and brightest." He continued, as if she wasn't there. "You may have taken some of us out, but there are even more still on the way. You will die tonight."

An orange jet of light flew from the upper dais of the room. Standing on the balcony were several familiar members of the Order of the Phoenix, all launching volleys of curses down on the Death Eaters.

Arthur Weasley stood in the forefront, Lupin, Shacklebolt, and Mad-Eye Moody flanking him.

The appearance of the Order distracted the remnants of the Death Eaters, and they were forced to contend with the double sided assault. Arthur Weasley hopped off of the dais onto one of the few standing shelves. He took a running start along the length of the shelf, before diving off onto Malfoy below him.

Harry gaped in shock. One of the Death Eaters moved to interfere, but was blocked by a gesture from Bellatrix.

Similarly, the Order members knew that this was Arthur's fight.

The two rolled back and forth, before Arthur managed to get the blonde man pinned beneath him. His wand forgotten, Arthur simply drove his fist into the aristocrat's pale face again and again, not stopping even as blood flowed freely from Malfoy's nose.

The Death Eater rolled to the side, reversing the hold. He grabbed Arthur's head, and slammed it into the marble floor with a loud thud. He pulled it back and slammed it a second time.

CRACK!

Harry couldn't believe it, Arthur had Disapparated! Even with his head being pounded into the flour, he had summoned the energy for an Apparition!

He reappeared above the Death Eater, one foot pushing Malfoy's face into the stone floor. "For all you had done Lucius..." He said slowly. "For all you had said, I still would have let you live. But then you had to take it too far. You tried to get my baby girl killed."

He ground the heel of his shoe into Malfoy's skull. "How does it feel to be licking the floor Lucius: familiar? Of course, you don't have Voldemort's hems in your mouth, that's probably a disappointment."

Harry couldn't believe it. He'd never seen Mr. Weasley this... cold before.

"You are still beneath me Weasley." Malfoy spat. "Fighting like a common Muggle? Pathetic."

"Pathetic?" Arthur asked. "Perhaps, but it is rather effective. Here you are, the great Lord Malfoy, on the ground beneath my feet."

He drew his foot back, lashing out with a series of vicious stomps to Malfoy's kidneys.

The Death Eater coughed weakly. "Is that your best shot? I should have expected as much from the common rabble."

Arthur bent down, and in a show of surprising strength, lifted Malfoy up by the nape of his neck. "You may consider me to be a Blood-Traitor Lucius, but at least I can say I still have my dignity."

He dropped Lucius, who fell back to the floor, before grabbing the Death Eater's fallen wand. "This piece of wood is your entire life Lucius. And yet..." With a twist of his fingers, the 18 inches of elm snapped, the wood falling to the floor. "Like that, it's over."

"Stand up and die on your feet like a man Death Eater." Arthur ordered. "I'm done fighting you. One way or another you will die now."

"I'll never bow to you Blood-Traitor." Lucius whispered. "I do have some dignity left."

Harry closed his eyes, unable to watch his father figure continue.

"Be my guest." Arthur snarled. He bounced the heavy silver snake headed hilt of Lucius' wand on the palm of his hand. With a move so fast his hands blurred, he flung the ornate chunk of metal at his rival's head, and turned away, never seeing the impact, or the spray of blood that spattered the floor.

"Bravo, a wonderful show Arthur." Bellatrix said with a light round of applause. "I've wanted that bastard dead for years now."

"Don't get too excited Bellatrix." Arthur said calmly. "We aren't going anywhere."

He gestured around the atrium with his hand. "You may outnumber us, but your men are weary, mine are fresh."

He pointed at Malfoy's limp form lying in a pool of his own blood. "We can out fight you."

He leveled his wand at the Dark Witch. "And we certainly don't fear you. Surrender now, and go to Azkaban. Fight us, and you will not survive the encounter. Every member of the Order here today is more than willing to kill scum like you."

"What makes you think you can compete with me Weasley?" She hissed. "You may have knocked off a Malfoy, but he wasn't even a match for my sister. I suggest that you leave, and I may yet let you live."

"I am more than-" Arthur began.

No longer willing to wait for the man's reply, Sirius sprang into action. He flung a pair of Bone-Breakers at his cousin, who casually deflected them.

And with that strike, the temporary truce was over. It soon descended into all out chaos. Sirius squared off against Bellatrix, the two of them trading spells so fast their wands were a blur. Shacklebolt took on the two Lestrange brothers, holding his own against the powerful duo. Lupin caught Wormtail with a Stunner right off the bat, taking the rat out of the fight. Another spell wrapped him in ropes and suspended him from the ceiling. He wouldn't escape again.

Harry tried to get to Sirius, but got swept up in a duel of his own against a Death Eater he didn't recognize. He dodged two curses, before trying out the Bone-Breaker: "_Ossum Fracturum_!"

A grey jet of light crackling with black lightning hit the Death Eater in the chest, snapping his sternum. He fell to his knees, and a Slashing hex ended the fight.

Not even pausing, Harry jumped over his fallen foe, tossing a Piercing hex at another masked Death Eater who was dueling Lupin.

The werewolf used the distraction well, and a well placed Reductor took the Death Eater out. "Get out of here Harry!" He shouted. "We'll handle this; you worry about getting your friends out alive!"

Harry ignored him, sprinting past. He needed to warn Sirius. He needed to tell him that Bellatrix was on their side!

The only duel that was still in between him and Sirius was Shacklebolt and the Lestranges.

Shacklebolt had been forced on the defensive, unable to do anything except backpedal and try to block the brother's hexes. As Harry watched, the Order member deflected a Piercing hex, back-stepping to avoid a Killing Curse.

Shacklebolt threw himself to the side, two more Killing Curses impacting harmlessly against the dark marble. "Nice try Rabastan. But you'll have to try harder than that to kill an Auror."

"Try this one on for size then Shacklebolt!" One of the brothers snarled. "_Fulguri Maxima_!"

A huge blinding bolt of white lightning left his wand tip, with a thunderous CRACK!

Harry blinked rapidly, trying to clear the white spots from his eyes.

Shacklebolt conjured an ornate silver shield before him, right before the bolt crashed into it with a resounding GONG! Shacklebolt tightened his grip around his ash wand, pouring as much energy as he could into sustaining the conjuration.

The metal took on a soft cherry hue as the heat from the lightning seeped into the silver shield. After only a few moments, Shacklebolt's shield fell, and the bolt of lightning struck him in the chest, tossing him high into the air.

"_Expulso_!" Shouted the other Lestrange, tracking the falling Order member with his wand: the jet of blue light blew Shacklebolt apart, showering the room with a spray of blood and gore.

"_Flipendo_!" Harry roared, as a spatter of hot blood splashed across his face. His Bludgeoner knocked one of the brothers off of his feet, throwing him back into a pile of shelves.

A Bone-Breaker to the skull silenced the fallen Lestrange, in a shower of bone and brain matter leaving Harry alone to fight his brother.

"You killed Shacklebolt." Harry said darkly. "You've killed so many. There isn't anything I can do for Kingsley, except to avenge him. _Depulso_!"

Lestrange flew off of his feet, but in a surprisingly display of athleticism, managed to flip around in mid-air, landing casually on his feet.

"I have killed many," Lestrange admitted, as he and Harry started to circle one another. "But you shall be my favorite victim."

"_Avada Kedavra_!" He roared suddenly.

The sickly green jet flew towards Harry.

The teen slid beneath the curse, feeling its energy rustle his hair. Flipping up, he flung a Piercer at Lestrange, drilling a neat hole in the man's shoulder.

Lestrange laughed, even as he wrapped the wound with a spell. "Nice going Potter, you've killed again. But this time... it was one of your own."

Harry spun around as fast as he could.

"Sirius!" He shouted desperately.

His godfather turned, only to take the full force of Lestranges Killing Curse; his gaunt face barely had time to register his shock, as the light left his eyes.

No." Harry whispered weakly. "Not Sirius. Not him too. He's all I had left."

Lestrange laughed again. "I can't believe it! The great Sirius Black and he didn't even see it coming. But I can't leave his body there, somebody could trip: _Deprimo_!"

Harry gaped as Sirius' body rose in the air in slow motion. A pulse of magic rocked the room, forcing Harry to shield his eyes.

A huge BOOM echoed loudly in the Hall of Prophecy. Slowly, Harry opened his eyes; where Sirius' body had hung... was empty.

Harry cast his gaze around desperately, searching for Sirius' laughing face. Hoping to see him pop up and grin like nothing had happened. But all he could see was Bellatrix; now dueling her husband.

Lestrange ducked below the green curse flung at him, drawing Harry's attention back to Sirius' killer.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Bellatrix shouted, her eyes blazing. "DON'T STEAL FROM ME!"

Lestrange tossed his wand down, raising his hands. "Bella dear… Calm down. It was an accident."

He backpedalled frantically, pointing at his wand. "Bella... See? I put the wand down Bella. I didn't mean to steal your kill!"

"YOU STOLE FROM ME!" Bellatrix snarled.

"Bella please!" Lestrange pleaded, dropping to his knees. "Don't!"

"Don't worry Rodolphus." She said menacingly. "You'll never steal from me again."

"Don't do this Bella! Please! You're my wife!" Lestrange begged sobbing. "Please."

"Good-bye Rodolphus." Bellatrix said cruelly, raising her wand. "It's been a fucking horrible marriage. _Avada Kedavra_!"

There was a flash of green, and Lestrange fell over lifelessly.

Bellatrix marched over to where Harry stood, resting her wand against his heart.

In a voice low enough that only he could hear, she whispered. "Sorry about Sirius, I was trying to keep him alive. I'm going to return to the Dark Lord, but by the Fall Equinox, I should have escaped his control. Meet me in Grimmauld Place as soon after then as you can, we will have a lot to discuss."

Harry nodded slightly, but for the benefit of those watching raised his voice. "Get the fuck out of here Lestrange. Crawl back to your Master and lick your wounds: and if we meet in battle again... I won't be so lenient."

Bellatrix Disapparated with a crack, leaving Harry alone in the middle of the room; panting, Harry pocketed his wand and rested his hands on his knees.

Lupin rushed over. "Harry! What did Bellatrix say to you? She's not known for fleeing during a battle."

"She told me that I was a powerful wizard." Harry lied easily. "And that if I choose to switch sides in this war, she'll happily vouch for me to Voldemort."

"Did she now?" Lupin raised an eyebrow. "Interesting... Hopefully you know better than to actually go to him."

"Of course I do." Harry reassured him. "I mean come on! This fucker killed my parents, he tried to kill me, he tried to kill me a second time, he set a giant killer basilisk on me, he killed Cedric, and then he used me as the main ingredient in Voldemort soup. But of course, the moment he offers, I'm going to come running, because fuck the past right? Forgive and forget?"

Lupin raised his hands in defense. "I didn't mean anything by it Harry."

"Whatever." Harry grunted. "Look, most of the Death Eaters are dead, why don't you make yourself useful, and clean up some of the fucking mess so we can go home."

"Harry-" Lupin began.

"No! Fuck you!" Harry yelled. "You have no fucking right to tell me what to do! My parents are dead, so is Sirius, and with him, died the legal ability for any adult to tell me how to act! Particularly you!"

"What is your problem with me Harry?" Lupin asked. "I haven't done anything, why are you treating me like the enemy?"

"Why?" Harry laughed bitterly. "You should be smart enough to figure that out _Professor._ You left me alone in that fucking hellhole for 11 fucking years, and then another three summers after that. You haven't spoken to me all year, even though you knew that I was being kept in the dark about everything. And just now, you were more concerned with Bellatrix attempting to turn me to the Dark, than you were about your own best friend's death. So, since you asked, that's my fucking problem with you; deal with it as you please."

Lupin moved to respond, but Harry simply shoved past him, stalking over to where he saw Luna and Neville.

"Hi Harry!" Luna said eagerly.

"What was that all about?" Neville asked, gesturing towards the disgruntled Lupin.

"It doesn't matter." Harry growled. "He's finally getting a small taste of what I've gone through for the past fourteen years."

"Fair enough, I'll stay out of it." Neville agreed. "Do you know what happened to Hermione? I haven't seen her since we split up earlier."

"She's okay." Harry said, his voice shrinking to a whisper as he fought back tears. "Sirius... Sirius got her out after she got injured."

"I saw what happened to Black." Neville said quietly. "I'm sorry brother."

The teen stepped forward, and in a surprising move, pulled his god-brother into a hug.

For the first time since the lethal curse had struck Sirius, Harry allowed himself to grieve.

Harry shuddered; eyes squeezed shut as he fought to keep the tears at bay. Thick dry sobs wracked his body as he buried his face in Neville's shoulder. Only once he was sure that nobody could see, did he finally allow the tears to flow, the hot liquid running down his face, staining Neville's robes.

Luna joined in, wrapping her slim arms around the brothers. "Oh Harry." She said softly, tears glistening in her blue eyes. "I'm so sorry; you two barely had time to get to know one another."

"Now isn't this sweet?" A high cold voice interrupted after a few moments.

Harry pulled away from Neville, and whirled around, drawing his wand from his robes, the burn in his scar telling him who it was immediately.

Voldemort.

Harry's heart sank. How would they ever get out of the Ministry now? In his peripheral vision, he saw Luna and Neville raise their wands beside him.

"You three sharing a moment of such remorse," Voldemort continued from where he stood on a shelf: "How pitifully human of you."

"_Ossum Fracturum_!" Harry roared suddenly, hoping to catch the Dark Lord by surprise.

Yet, without even flinching, Voldemort casually caught the spell, balancing the volatile magic on his palm; he molded the jet of light into an orb, before shifting it through various shapes in his hand.

Luna gasped.

Harry caught a glimpse of a dragon, a snake, and lion, before Voldemort spoke again.

"A Bone-Breaker?" He remarked, his eyes never leaving the entrancing dance of the magic. "Dumbledore certainly didn't teach you a move like that. He preaches love and tolerance. Who taught the little lion how to use his claws?"

"An Auror did." Harry growled. "And that's not all she taught me!"

"_Depulso_!" He cried, wand aimed at the floor.

The Banishing hex flung him high in the antechamber, higher than even Voldemort standing on the shelf.

"_Bombarda Maxima_!" Harry cried, wand pointed at Voldemort.

Only to gasp helplessly as he was seized by an unseen force, rendering him immobile in the air; without a complete wand movement, his spell fizzled into nothing. His wand was torn out of his grasp, falling dozens of feet to the stone floor with a clatter.

Voldemort laughed, his right hand still holding the Bone-Breaker. "Nice try Potter, but you don't have the magical power to fight me. I can control the world around me with a mere thought, and you can't do anything about it."

"_Reducto_!" Neville shouted out from below. The blue curse flew towards Voldemort, but without shifting his gaze from Harry, the Dark Lord knocked it aside, the spell disintegrating a small pile of rubble against a wall.

"Don't bother Longbottom." Voldemort said casually. "You'll be my next target; after all, you were also born in July were you not?"

Neville just stared at the Dark Lord blankly.

Voldemort shook his head. "The things I could teach you..." He said wistfully.

He flung Harry's own curse at him; the Bone-Breaker balanced for a moment on the flesh of Harry's shoulder, before sinking beneath the skin.

Harry threw his head back as he felt the shoulder snap under the force of the spell. He dug his fingernails into his palm as he fought to keep from screaming. He refused to give Voldemort the pleasure.

"Didn't hurt." Harry spat through clenched teeth.

"Oh really?" Voldemort said. "Then I apologize for disappointing you. Try this one with my sincerest of apologies: _Crucio_!"

The scarlet curse struck Harry in the thigh, the pain radiating out from impact. It felt like a thousand white hot knives digging into every pore of his body. His skull throbbed in time with the burn of his scar, amplifying the sound of the blood rushing through his ears.

He swore he could feel his flesh being torn off in strips, as he was flayed alive. And then a moment's relief as the pain eased, only for it to start all over again.

The pain was so all-consuming, so overwhelmingly encompassing that he was unaware of where he was or what was going on. He was vaguely aware of somebody screaming horrifically in the background, and only later would he realize it was his own.

And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.

Harry slumped over, still caught in the grasp of Voldemort's spell. He was panting, short quick breaths taken in shallow gasps; he couldn't get enough oxygen through the pressure of the spell.

"Why?" He gasped out. "Why haven't they helped yet?"

Voldemort laughed the sound echoing high and cold throughout the room.

"You haven't figured it out yet?" He laughed again. "I cast an altered Notice-Me-Not charm. They can't even tell that I'm here yet."

"Dumbledore-" Harry started, before a coughing fit overtook him, and his chest seized up.

"Dumbledore will recognize your magic." He continued when he'd recovered.

"He'll stop you." Harry insisted weakly.

"Perhaps..." Voldemort acknowledged, "But he has not crossed wands with me for fifteen years. Even for a great wizard like Dumbledore, age will take its toll. He has only slowed over the years, whereas this body is as agile as I've been."

"There is nothing you can do to escape Potter." The Dark Lord declared triumphantly. "The Notice-Me-Not won't fall until I'm far away from the Ministry. And by then... it'll be too late for your Order Members to save you."

Harry strained against his invisible bonds. "Dumbledore knows I'm here! He'll be here soon enough."

"Didn't we just cover this?" Voldemort laughed. "He can't match me, nobody can. I personally altered the spell so that even the most esoteric of the magical arts won't be able to bring it down."

"Are you sure of that Voldemort?" A calm voice asked quietly.

The Dark Lord spun around.

Arthur stood on an upper dais; he was flanked by Tonks, Moody, and Lupin.

"How did you get past my barrier?" Voldemort demanded. "What magic did I miss?"

"The same kind Dumbledore has been trying to teach you for many years." Arthur told him. "The simplest spells are the ones you always overlook. A _Finite_ easily brought it down, after Remus realized your scent was in the room."

"Of course," The Dark Lord laughed. "The mongrel has an enhanced sense of smell; I should have remembered as much."

"Don't worry." Lupin said from where he stood at Arthur's shoulder. "I'll be sure to kill you now. Then you'll never have to worry about it again."

Voldemort undid the clasp of his cloak, letting it fall to the floor far below. Underneath he wore a set of tight fitting robes that left his movements unhindered. "You can try; but like all the others you will fail."

Lupin hurled a silent Bone-Breaker at the Dark Lord. Close behind it were a trio of curses that Harry didn't recognize.

Almost casually, Voldemort batted them aside with his wand, the spells detonating against the wall and ceiling.

Harry struggled again, but even while still dueling four accomplished wizards, the grip of Voldemort's spell never lessened. Below, similar strained grunts told him that Luna and Neville were trapped as well; clearly this was a battle of pride for the Dark Wizard.

Moody flung a Severing hex, but Voldemort simply stepped aside. "You're getting a tad sloppy with your wand work there Alastor!" He called mockingly. "Maybe if I had one wooden leg that would have caught me, but apparently I'm still too fast for you."

Moody roared out an unintelligible reply, before leaping off of the dais. A barrage of curses left his wand, as he chained spell after spell together.

Voldemort was forced onto the defensive as he fought to stop the flurry of spells; he deflected a handful, a Summoned shelf took the brunt of another dozen, and he managed to shield against the rest, but Moody's last curse made it past the Dark Lord's guard, punching through the magical barrier, and continuing on unhindered. Voldemort jerked away just in time, however the grizzled Auror still scored a hit, opening up a slim wound against his cheek.

Harry cheered inwardly, despite the pressure of Voldemort's curse holding him in place.

"Impressive speed with that last one Alastor." Voldemort admitted, as he healed the wound on his cheek. "But you still can't defeat me alone. And your three friends appear to have abandoned you to their own devices."

Moody's magical eye spun wildly in its socket, confirming the Dark Lord's assessment. Lupin, Tonks, and Arthur were gone.

"I don't need them to defeat you." Moody growled. "I've taken down more Dark Wizards than even you're likely to ever meet."

"Perhaps… But would you care to test that against me in a duel by yourself?" Voldemort asked lightly.

"Of course you wouldn't." Voldemort continued. "Even the great Auror Alastor Moody knows he can't defeat a wizard of my caliber on his own. I have defeated the best there has ever been. I've beaten Albus Dumbledore. I've demolished and killed the immortal Nicholas Flamel. I've even battled a Greater Daemon once upon a time. I've never lost a duel; and you certainly won't be the one to break my streak."

"That's a lie!" Harry shouted from where he hung suspended in the air. "Dumbledore's beaten you! He's the only one you've ever feared!"

"Dumbledore has never out-dueled me!" Voldemort shouted; a wave of Dark Magic washing over the room as his black aura surged.

Moody was thrown backwards by the force of the surge, his wooden leg splintering on impact. He lay on the ground panting, unable to return to his one leg. Gingerly he pressed a hand to his side: he counted three broken ribs and at least two fractures in his sternum. One way or another he was out of this fight.

"He has driven me back exactly twice. But never once has he even landed a curse on me, let alone successfully defeated me. Meanwhile, I've hit him with several curses, and if it wasn't for that damned Phoenix of his, he'd have fallen to my _Avada_ many years ago." Voldemort insisted.

"In fact, I would go as far as to say he can't beat me. I am far more powerful than Grindelwald ever was, and it took every ounce of strength Dumbledore had to take him down. The old fool could never-"

Voldemort's rant was interrupted when a huge metal fist knocked him to the floor.

He righted himself, landing in a battle crouch, and cast his gaze upward. Arthur Weasley stood at the head of a massive magical golem animated from the many destroyed shelves that littered the floor. On either side of him stood Tonks and Lupin, wands raised.

Arthur threw a few practice punches, and the golem shadowed his movements exactly. A grin crossed his face.

Voldemort leapt up, his ritual-enhanced body easily jumping forty feet into the air.

Verbally casting for the first time since he'd appeared in the ministry, Voldemort violently jabbed his yew wand forward. "_Confringo Maxima_!"

The fiery hue of the Blasting curse burned brightly in the dim chamber, leaving flaming streaks in Harry's vision.

As he blinked rapidly, trying to clear his eyes, he briefly saw Tonks and Lupin standing wands raised: their wand tips glowed briefly, and in a flash of purple, a transparent magical shield between the golem and Voldemort.

The dual efforts of Tonks and Lupin held against the Blasting curse, and Voldemort quickly abandoned the spell, rather than enter a contest of willpower against the two.

He flung a Shield-Breaker at the golem, shattering the magical barrier in a shower of purple sparks.

Pressing his advantage, Voldemort wandlessly loosed a powerful bolt of black lightning from his left hand. It staggered the golem back, the metal twisting under the force of the spell.

He conjured a spray of acid from the end of his wand, the viscous green liquid eating away at the golem's chest where it hit.

Arthur lashed out with his left foot, the golem's leg following suit. Voldemort was thrown high in the air from the force of the blow, wincing as he felt his ribs crack.

He hit the area with a numbing charm, and sprang up from the floor, just in time to avoid a brutal stomp.

Voldemort Apparated without a sound, reappearing behind Arthur.

"You fought well Weasley." He acknowledged.

Arthur whirled around to face him, abandoning his connection to the golem. Beside him, Tonks and Lupin also spun, only to be hit with a pair of Immobilizing hexes, locking them in place.

"Almost like a true Pure-Blood." Voldemort continued casually. "But in the end, like all Blood-Traitors, you shall die."

"If I fall with my wand raised against you, then I've died a hero." Arthur said bravely. "I've done my best to keep my children safe from a monster like you. What more can a father do? You may call me a Blood-Traitor, but I'd rather turn my back on Pure-Blood customs than turn away from the side of light."

"It is exactly that attitude that prevents you from reaching the top ranks of my Death Eaters." Voldemort said sadly. "With your magical power, and the ingenuity you've displayed, you could have replaced even Bellatrix."

"But sadly, you've aligned yourself with the relic." Voldemort shook his head. "Such wasted potential: what a shame. I'll give you one chance to throw your wand down and join me. All will be forgiven, even the death of dear Lucius. Just toss your wand aside, and accept my Mark."

Arthur raised his wand in a familiar dueling pose. "You already know my answer. Why should I bother wasting my breath?"

"A pity," Voldemort hissed. "I'd rather liked to have added a Weasley to my _collection_."

"It shall be a duel then." He continued. "And as the challenger, I'll even allow you first strike."

Arthur licked his lips nervously. "How generous of you." He muttered darkly.

When it came, his spell was quick and brutal. "_Ossis Praemium_!"

Voldemort was faster.

He caught the spell on the tip of his wand, and in a single wide gesture, returned it to its caster.

The black jet of light struck Arthur in the chest. Shards of gore-encrusted bone exploded forth, as Arthur's body fell back off of the golem and out of sight.

Harry's scream of rage and pain was silenced as the pressure of Voldemort's spell tightened across his chest.

Tears fogged up his glasses as Arthur's mangled body landed in front of him. The Weasley patriarch hadn't deserved such a brutal death. He was only there to clean up Harry's mess.

Voldemort would pay.

"Impressive spell work Weasley." Voldemort said from the head of the golem. "I wouldn't have expected one of Dumbledore's lackeys to be so... ruthless. A Bone-Exploder? Even some of my Death Eaters shy away from that spell: they claim that it's too brutal."

He waved his wand, freeing Lupin and Tonks. "You two are next. Who would like to be first?"

Neither answered, but both moved on the offensive, circling around Voldemort in opposite directions.

He just shook his head, a grin playing on his lipless mouth.

He crouched and leapt straight up: he flipped around in the air, leveling his yew wand at the space he'd just been.

"_Ignis Malum_!"

The deadly Fiendfyre left his wand, the all-encompassing blaze taking the shape of a fiery Basilisk. Its long coils tightened around the golem's form, the metal groaning and blistering under the wave of heat.

Twin screams erupted from the blaze as the maw of the basilisk swooped down and engulfed the head of the golem.

Harry saw a shape within the oily flames bend and contort as it started to grow. As the last of the golem disintegrated into a pile of ashes, a huge furred shape leapt from the burning remnants, its shaggy coat ablaze.

Moony carefully set Tonks down on the cool marble floor as he roared a challenge to the falling Voldemort. It was for naught, as the sentient fire engulfed him once again, drawing the werewolf deeper into the heart of the Fiendfyre.

Tonks coughed violently, as thick black ash spewed from her lungs. She groaned, as she fought to return to her feet.

Voldemort dispelled the Fiendfyre with a flick of his wand as he fell to the floor, landing in a battle crouch.

"Impressive Auror: you've survived Fiendfyre. It's a pity your friend didn't though. I do suppose it was my fault: I knew he was a werewolf, but I didn't realize he'd embraced it enough to change without the full moon."

"Remus was a good man." Tonks said weakly. "He died a hero."

"Yes, that's what all of your Order members say isn't it?" Voldemort hissed as he stepped in front of Tonks. "First Weasley insisted on dying a noble death, and then the mutt uses the last of his strength to rescue the damsel in distress."

"But there are none of your friends left to save you this time Auror." He laughed. "Mad-Eye is all but dead. I've beaten two of you, and the entire time, I've kept your precious Boy-Who-Lived trapped within a spell of my own creation. Your Order lost all of their best fighters tonight. Even if you should survive, this will be no victory."

"The wolf gave himself a hero's death, Weasley died with his wand in his hand, and Alastor was the first to feel the full wrath of my raw magical power. It is only fitting, that I give you the death of a gladiator Auror." Voldemort conjured a passable imitation of a Roman Gladius with a wave of his wand.

"I can behead you. Or you can be fed to wild animals. Both were used in Roman times. I'll leave it for you to choose from."

Tonks managed to straighten up; standing proud despite the pain she had endured. Her shock of pink hair was gone, consumed by Fiendfyre, and her skin was seared with livid burns, her wand hadn't escaped the hellish blaze, so instead she balled her hands into fists.

"Bite me." She spat.

"Then I guess I can choose for you." Voldemort mused. He hefted the Gladius, testing its weight. "I really shouldn't waste the energy I spent on conjuring this. Beheading it shall be."

He stepped forward, raising the sword. "Hold still and I promise you, it will hurt much less than you would expect."

With a movement faster than Harry could track, Tonks struck: she tackled Voldemort, knocking him to the ground, pummeling him with short powerful blows. With one last powerful strike to the wrist, the Dark Lord's wand flew from his hand, Tonks dove for it, stretching her arm out past Voldemort's desperate reach; triumphantly, she raised the yew in the air as she slowly returned to her feet.

She leveled the wand at Voldemort confidently. "You may have killed the others, but now you will die Voldemort."

"Even wand-less, I still far outclass you Auror."

"Perhaps magically you do." Tonks acknowledged. "With all the Dark Rituals you've gone through, it's not that hard of an assumption to say that even physically you could beat me; but I am an Auror. Plan A has always been don't get captured. Plan B... If you do get captured blow the place sky high!"

She pressed the yew wand to her own throat. "This spell will turn my magical power into atomic energy Voldemort! Even you can't survive this one!"

The incantation she roared was drowned out by the sudden explosion rocking the room. Tonks was at the epicenter, and she disappeared in a blaze of white light, pulsing through the room.

Harry felt the spell holding him give way, as Voldemort diverted all of his power to containing the explosion. He fell the 30 feet, landing in a heap at on the hard marble floor, only a few inches away from his wand.

His energy suddenly surging back to him, Harry scooped up the wand and sprinted away, a second pulse of heat and light right behind him.

And as suddenly as it had begun it was over. Harry risked a glance over his shoulder. Luna and Neville were lying on the ground a few hundred feet away, knocked unconscious by the force of the explosion. Voldemort was still standing, the plinth of marble stretching out below him the sole survivor of the Hall of Prophecy. A crater dominated the center of the room, hundreds of feet deep, a pale yew wand at the bottom.

High above them, Harry could see the Fountain of Magical Brethren: Tonks' spell had reached the surface.

A magical eye spinning helplessly at the outskirts of the crater was the last sign of the great Alastor Moody.

Voldemort slowly lowered his hands, the skin red and irritated from the blast. For the first time, the Dark Lord appeared... fallible.

"Bravo." He said quietly, as he Summoned his wand back to him. "For the first time in years, somebody very nearly killed me."

"But at what cost to you?" Voldemort said aloud. "Why would you have sacrificed your own life to destroy me? Didn't the fear of Death hang above your head? I don't understand."

"No Tom, you never did." A quiet voice said. "And that is and always has been your greatest weakness."

Voldemort didn't even bother to turn around.

"Dumbledore; why are you here tonight?"

"You know perfectly well why Tom. The same reason you are: we both must risk everything to see this through to the end."

Voldemort laughed gleefully. "There is no end any longer old man. The boy destroyed the prophecy... And your pet Auror destroyed him. _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches_? I suppose I am immortal now."

"Your senses must be slipping." Dumbledore said sagely. "Harry is standing right over there. A tad injured perhaps, and certainly incredibly exhausted, but very much alive."

His face hardened into a mask of calm. "But you will not touch him Tom, not today and not ever."

"Try what you will Dumbledore. The boy will be mine."

"It was unwise of you to come here tonight. The Aurors are on their way, and Minister Fudge is certain to be close behind them, his standard entourage of press with him as well."

"Perhaps..." Voldemort acknowledged, finally turning to face Dumbledore. "But by that time, I will be long gone, and your Order will be blamed for ransacking the Ministry."

"You assume of course, that you can get past me." Dumbledore pointed out. "You've killed several of my very close friends tonight. Do you truly expect to escape my wrath?"

"Even if my return is forced out into the open it will have been worth it." Voldemort declared, conjuring a magical floor to cover the crater below him. "Your Order is without its finest fighters, and the next generation has already been exposed to the hell of war. You will be without recruits."

"And you have lost a large percentage of your Inner Circle tonight."

Voldemort dismissed the remark. "They can be replaced. Fenrir has been looking for a promotion anyway. One whisper of an opening, and he will be begging for the chance to prove his worth."

"I will not allow you to flee like I've done before." Dumbledore said coldly. "I cannot allow this war to continue on."

"Then it appears we are at an impasse." Voldemort hissed.

"Indeed it does."

"It is time Dumbledore." Voldemort laughed: "Time to dance our final dance."

"_Avada Kedavra_!"

**A/N:**

**Alright guys! Feedback is beyond insane for the last two chapters! I think Nova would agree with me, when I say that neither of us expected this level of commitment after only two chapters! At the time of writing this, on FF net, we have... 321 Follows: 182 Favorites: and 37 Reviews! Archive's stats are similar if not better! As a result, we are announcing this earlier than planned. There will be a special surprise to whoever posts the 100th review to this story on either site. Only two people will be given this surprise, so make sure it's you!**

**In other news, I received a few questions about Neville's strength last chapter; primarily related to his wand. After he beat Carrow (which he did right at the beginning, with the help of both Luna and Hermione) he gained mastership of his dad's wand, because Carrow had beaten him. OK? Everybody understand? Glad we got that taken care of.**

**As always, check out my Facebook page to see how the story is progressing, either search I AM ZE BETA, or just follow the link on my profile page!**

**See you all again soon!**

**-BETA OUT!**

**Co-Writer/Beta note:**

**I do indeed agree with Beta and would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming stats and feedback. I sincerely hope everyone has enjoyed this chapter. –NOVA OUT!**


	4. The Ministry Gambit: pt 4

**Harry Potter: World at War**

**Chapter 4: The Ministry Gambit Pt. 4**

"_Avada Kedavra_!"

Dumbledore conjured a small boulder to block the lethal green curse: the rock exploded in a shower of splintered rubble, but protected the aged Headmaster.

"I've proven this to you many times before Tom: you can't rely solely on the Killing curse." Dumbledore said, shaking his head sadly. "There are many more dangerous spells that are much harder to counter."

"I have traveled the world for over sixty years: scoured the deepest corners of Egyptian tombs, climbed to the top of the legendary Mount Olympus, and even studied under Grindelwald's chief enforcers." Voldemort declared angrily. "So what makes you think that the Killing curse is all I have? I know of magic so dark and vile that even Grindelwald feared its power."

"Then prove it." Dumbledore said calmly. "Duel me without your crutch. Duel without the Killing curse."

"And why would I bow to your whims?" Voldemort asked, as he slowly began to pace across from Dumbledore, wand held loosely in hand.

"Because: a man of your stature and intelligence never could resist such a challenge." Dumbledore told him.

Voldemort's high, cold, laugh echoed throughout the devastated chamber. "They do say that your former teachers will always know you better than you know yourself."

Dumbledore acknowledged the man's compliment with a nod.

"But I would never willingly give up an advantage as great as the Killing curse without any gain Dumbledore." Voldemort hissed. "What could you possibly offer me to even up the exchange?"

"A simple deal: you restrain from your constant use of the Killing curse, and I will avoid any and all Animation magic."

Voldemort's eyes noticeably widened as he considered the offer. "I accept your terms on one condition: you make certain that Potter does not interfere."

"You heard him Harry." Dumbledore said calmly. "Stand aside now, and leave us to our duel."

"Are you fucking crazy?" Harry shouted. "Why would you sacrifice your best branch of magic, and cut off outside support? We can beat him together!"

"I will not repeat myself Harry." Dumbledore said firmly. "My decision is final: do not interfere."

Harry fumed silently, but knew better than to attempt to directly defy Dumbledore. The old man held his gaze for a moment, before turning back to Voldemort.

He raised his wand. "I Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore swear on my life and magic to restrain from Animation under the branch Transfiguration magic against Tom Marvolo Riddle in our current duel, provided he refrains from using the Killing curse against me for the same duration. _So mote it be_!"

A white flash from the end of his wand sealed his oath; Dumbledore then nodded to Voldemort.

Scowling, the Dark Lord lifted his wand. "I Tom Marvolo Riddle, the Dark Lord Voldemort do so swear on my life and magic to not use the Killing curse for the duration of my duel against Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. _So mote it be_!"

A flash of black magic signified his oath's completion.

"There you have it Dumbledore." Voldemort hissed. "For this duel, and this duel alone we will fight under your restrictions."

He twirled his wand: a dark purple jet of light erupted forth, and flew towards Dumbledore.

The aged wizard summoned a golden shield around his wand, parrying the curse with ease. "An Entrail-Expeller?" Dumbledore asked, with a raised eyebrow. "That's the Tom Riddle I remember: always using the most esoteric magics available."

Voldemort laughed cruelly. "That's only the beginning old man. I picked that one up from Hogwarts' library, I know of far more dangerous magics."

A blindingly bright jet of light flew across the room, and Harry turned away to shield his eyes; even so, the magic radiating from the spell caused his hair to stand on end.

When he looked back, Dumbledore had conjured the same silver shield that Shacklebolt had used; Voldemort's spell was deflected off of the gleaming surface, ricocheting into the ravaged ceiling, bringing even more debris falling down.

The Dark Lord flicked his wand again, morphing some of the falling debris into dozens of huge serpents.

_Attack the old fool._ He muttered lowly: the drawling sibilants and underlying hiss telling Harry it was Parseltongue.

Dumbledore leapt up, surprisingly spryly for his age, and stabbed his wand at ground below him: a ring of fire erupted outward, reducing the snakes to ashes below him.

"Nice try Tom." He said, pushing his half-moon glasses up his crooked nose. "But you know as well as I do that I understand Parseltongue. Your snakes would never have caught me by surprise."

Voldemort slowly began to circle the room around Dumbledore. "I had forgotten your little trick." He hissed quietly. "It is a rare man indeed to be able to understand Parseltongue without speaking it."

"When one faces off against the heir of Slytherin on a weekly basis, what skill could be more necessary?" Dumbledore asked rhetorically. "You always have been fond of snakes as a weapon: it would be remiss of me not to attempt to dissect your language."

"Indeed." Voldemort nodded.

"Besides, it is much easier to understand than Mermish, or Gobbledygook." Dumbledore continued. "More than half of Mermish is too high for humans to hear; only with the help of spells can we learn what is being said."

Voldemort rolled his eyes. "Do you even bother to listen to yourself old man? Nobody cares about your difficulties with Mermish."

Dumbledore looked affronted, "I'll have you know -"

Suddenly, he was interrupted as Voldemort launched a burst of silver spells from his wand.

Without even flinching, Dumbledore levitated the remaining debris, intercepting the spells with ease. "You always try to curse me when I'm deep in conversation: it has become rather predictable Tom; I must say, I have always thought better of you."

Voldemort ignored the insult, instead tossing a powerful Bludgeoning curse at Dumbledore.

A golden shield materialized into existence right before it collided with Dumbledore. The spell's energy dissipated harmlessly against the magical barrier.

Dumbledore raised one eyebrow. "A fan of Hermaeus' work as well I see: I've always been fond of the "Hammer-of-God" myself."

He lowered the magical shield, before speaking again. "He did create one of my favorite versions of the Cutting curse: I believe he calls it the Bone Saw."

Whipping his wand laterally across his body, an orange arc light crackling with black sparks sped across the space between them in a moment.

A hurried spell from Voldemort saw bronze armor cover him from head to toe an instant before the Bone Saw connected.

The brutal curse rent the bronze from shoulder to hip with an ominous GONG as the spell hit: Voldemort's blood dripping freely from the skin visible beneath.

The bronze armor vanished as he quickly muttered a healing spell, staunching the blood flow, and causing the shallow cut to pucker and vanish, leaving behind a faint scar behind the torn outfit.

"Impressive." He acknowledged, repairing the tear in his robes. "You actually tried to kill me. How... surprising…"

"I'm not going to toy with you any longer Tom." Dumbledore said sternly. "I told you already: you've slain some of my very good friends tonight; men and women that had spouses and families to return to. The least I can do is honestly say I tried my best to avenge their deaths."

"You don't know how to not mess around in a duel Dumbledore." Voldemort laughed. "Look at what you've done tonight: you dueled for a moment, before setting up a deal, you dueled a moment longer, but then went off on a tangent about Mermish. Face it; you don't have the skills to match me any longer!"

Dumbledore raised his wand again. "I'm sorry Tom. I should have tried harder to save you."

"Save me?" Voldemort asked laughing. "I have no need to be saved! You're losing your touch Dumbledore."

"No." Dumbledore said softly. "I am as able-minded as ever. You will be only the fourth that I've killed, and I promise you: I do not relish in the thought of your death."

"You will not kill me Dumbledore. I can promise you that." Voldemort spat.

Enraged, he flung a lime green spell at Dumbledore.

The Headmaster jumped aside, letting the granite wall take the brunt of the blow.

"A Withering curse?" He said rhetorically. "Much better Tom: I'd give you an A for ingenuity!"

"Don't mock me!" Voldemort screeched.

A pile of razor-sharp leaves appeared beneath him; with a gesture, they rose up as if caught by a strong wind and began to circle the Dark Lord.

"How's this for esoteric?" Voldemort screamed; for a moment he looked even crazier than Bellatrix was rumored to be. "_Rasier Blatt_!"

Two of the leaves rushed towards Dumbledore faster than he could react: both hit, opening up shallow gashes on his left forearm, and on his cheek.

"Much better." Dumbledore said calmly. "That's German magic right? I'm not as well versed in their magics as I used to be. After Gellert's death, Germany destroyed most of their magical archives."

Voldemort flicked his wand again, and the dozens of leaves floating around him all flew towards Dumbledore.

The Headmaster flipped backwards, letting them pass harmlessly below him; he spun himself around before he landed, a burst of Dragon-fire destroying the leaves.

Turning around again, Dumbledore parried another Withering curse with his wand.

Not even missing a beat, Voldemort flung a large golden curse at him.

Dumbledore managed to raise a shining blue shield: it lasted mere moments, before shattering under the force of Voldemort's spell.

He was flung off his feet and into a wall with a loud crunch.

"I thought you had a liking for Hermaeus' Hammer-Of-God?" Voldemort mocked. "I figured you'd have been able to block it.

Dumbledore dropped to the ground groaning. Slowly he returned to his feet, with a silver healing spell glowing around him.

"I must admit that I wasn't expecting that from you." He said, as the healing magic finished its work. "But you've proven my point; a single well placed comment angered you so much that you couldn't think well enough to fight me. What you call toying around in a duel, was a well-developed strategy designed to give me the best chance against you."

"However, it is time you surrender Tom. I have you outmatched." Dumbledore said calmly. "That's the first real hit you've landed."

Voldemort laughed again. "I'm only warming up old man. The real fight starts now!"

He lifted his wand, and an orange jet of light flew towards Dumbledore.

The Headmaster dodged to the side, letting the spell hit the wall harmlessly.

Panting, Voldemort snarled angrily. "Try this one then!"

A black sphere gathered at the tip of his wand, and with a flick of the wrist, was flung towards Dumbledore.

"_Depulso_!" The aged wizard roared. The white beam intercepted Voldemort's black, and a beam of golden light appeared between them.

Both men slowly rose off the ground as golden light began to spring forth of the beam, surrounding them in a web of magic. Slowly, the haunting melody of phoenix song resonated throughout the chamber.

Harry gasped audibly: the _Priori Incantatem_!

His mind was racing: Ollivander had told him that Voldemort's wand had only one brother: his.

Reaching into his pocket and finding it empty told Harry only one thing: Dumbledore had Summoned his wand when Voldemort was distracted. He'd planned for this to happen!

And he was winning: the five beads of light were all past the halfway point of the golden thread. Voldemort had been caught by surprise, and Dumbledore had pressed the advantage.

The five beads bobbed back and forth along thread as Voldemort started to put up a fight, but it was clear from the beginning who would win.

Soon the first of the five golden beads sank into Voldemort's wand, and smoky iterations of his spells started to pour out.

Harry saw the black curse that Voldemort had just used, as well as the armor he'd conjured a few minutes previously; abruptly, the smoky magic disappeared as Dumbledore jerked his wand away, breaking the connection.

With a wand in each hand, Dumbledore loosed a violent barrage of magic: Cutters, Bludgeoners, Banishers, and dozens more that Harry couldn't recognize. Voldemort was pushed back under the strength of the volley, forced on the defensive.

And as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.

Voldemort was lying on the ground, hands raised defensively in front of him. Smoke poured freely from his very pores, his robes shredded and destroyed. Scattered around him were the scorched remnants of the bronze armor he had once again summoned to protect himself.

"Is that your best old man? Even Malfoy could do better than that." Voldemort hissed hoarsely.

Dumbledore lowered the two wands, panting. "It's over Tom. Surrender or be destroyed."

"Spare me the theatrics old man." Voldemort wheezed. "That took more out of you than you would like to admit. You still can't bring yourself to kill me."

Dumbledore flung a pair of silver curses at the wounded Dark Lord.

In a flash of white light it was over.

A few tattered scraps of black cloth were all that remained of the darkest wizard in centuries.

Dumbledore pocketed his own wand, before walking over to where Harry still shocked, holding Harry's wand out.

"Thank you for the loan Harry. It proved quite useful in my duel. However I must apologize for not having asked your permission." Dumbledore said as Harry accepted the proffered wand.

"Not a problem Professor." Harry said easily. "But do you really think he's gone? It seemed over awfully fast."

"Gone for good?" Dumbledore asked. "Absolutely not: he shall be back. However, I do think I've managed to destroy his body once more. With any luck we will be able to enjoy another thirteen years of peace before he successfully returns."

"Hopefully," Harry said glumly. He looked at his trainers. "I'm sorry for getting so many of your friends killed Professor."

"Nonsense Harry!" Dumbledore said loudly. "It wasn't your fault that they died. As much as their loss saddens me, every single one of them would have gladly traded their own lives for the victory we achieved today."

His blue eyes sparkled behind his shining glasses. "Voldemort has fooled a great many people, myself included; you are not the first to fall for one of his traps. However, you are very fortunate, and very skilled to have survived this night. That being said, I am rather disappointed in you for your actions against the Death Eaters in this very hall. Every single one of these men and women deserved a chance to side with us against the Dark; we could have gained several powerful allies tonight if not for your reckless decision to trade Stunners for Reductor curses."

"With all due respect Professor," Harry began hotly.

Suddenly his scar seared painfully, and a new powerful presence made itself known.

"I'm sorry for my actions Sir." It was his voice, and his mouth that had moved, but he hadn't wanted to speak.

"You are of course right. We should have tried harder to spare them; despite their crimes, they were still people." His voice continued.

Harry struggled against the force that had taken over. He fought to get control of his mouth back: to shout out to Dumbledore, to warn him.

"I'm glad you've seen reason my boy!" Dumbledore said beaming. "If you can remember this next time you are forced to cross wands against a Death Eater, then we may yet prevail in this war!"

The aged Headmaster strode across the room happily. "Let's get your friends to Poppy Harry. And then you'll have to meet with her yourself. You got a bit banged up tonight didn't you?"

'_Old fool.'_

A flash of white hot hate seemed to rise within him, and the voice appeared echo throughout the room, but Dumbledore didn't respond.

'_Of course he didn't. Only you can hear me Potter.'_

It was Voldemort! Harry realized suddenly; a new jolt of pain blinded him when his scar seared again.

'_Well done!' _The sarcastic voice told him. '_Ten points to Gryffindor!'_

Harry strained mentally, trying to warn the Headmaster.

Unwillingly, his left arm raised, a thin shard of holly clutched tightly in his fingers.

"_Avada Kedavra_!"

Harry felt a strange rush of elation as the spell left his wand. Was this how it felt to use Dark Magic?

'_Does the fabled Boy-Who-Lived have an affinity for Dark Magic? _Voldemort gloated. _The irony is too perfect! Even if I can't kill the doddering old fool, you'll do it yourself to test out the power of Dark Magic!'_

Time seemed to be in slow motion for Harry. He had Voldemort laughing inside his head, distracting him, and the jet of green light inched closer and closer to Dumbledore as he watched. Yet again, he tried to scream at him, but Voldemort's presence was like a roadblock: Harry could send the order for his lips and tongue to move, but it was intercepted and canceled before it ever reached his intended target.

Dumbledore spun, Summoning a slab of rubble to intercept the Killing curse: the stone detonated forcefully, blowing the Headmaster off of his feet, shredding his robes, and opening up several light gashes on his arms and face.

Voldemort wasted no time, launching a barrage of Dark spells at Dumbledore's prone form: with a speed belying his age, Dumbledore flipped up off of the ground, casting a wand-less Banisher at the floor to knock him free of the blast.

He landed lightly on his feet, and drew his wand from his sleeve. "So you've possessed Harry have you Tom? I suspected as much would happen when a simple Obliteration hex took you down: clearly, you took the hit and Apparated away in the chaos."

"You fool!" Voldemort laughed. "The only reason that any of your curses even hit is because of the duels I had earlier tonight: even fresh, you can only barely match the power of a weary Dark Lord!"

"That may be true." Dumbledore acknowledged. "But it still stands: I still have far more reserves left than you do; there is no chance that you will defeat me tonight."

"Believe that if you wish Dumbledore." Voldemort laughed. "But you and I know that you'll never strike this body down; after all: '_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches,_' isn't that right?"

Privately to Harry he added: '_The old fool would never sacrifice his favorite student Potter; even if he did, I would abandon this body before the curse struck. There is no way that you will escape the Ministry with your life tonight.'_

Harry's mind was racing: there had to be a way to kick Voldemort out; maybe if he started thinking about his friends the feelings of love would chase the Dark Lord away.

Voldemort laughed again. '_Is that the kind of nonsense that Dumbledore tries to fill your head with? No wonder my newest Death Eaters are all morons. Trust me when I tell you, love doesn't hurt me, not even a little bit. I've loved before, but not for many, many years.'_

Harry snorted. How could somebody like Voldemort ever love?

'_You'd be surprised at what Dumbledore keeps from you Potter. _Voldemort told him. _If your beloved Headmaster and you survive this night, be sure to ask him about the name Karina Gause.'_

Harry tried to respond, but Voldemort's presence had seceded to the forefront of his mind, entirely focused on the duel.

Harry was left to his thoughts: who was this Karina Gause? Why was Voldemort acting so _normal_? And what else was Dumbledore hiding from him?

Voldemort flung another Killing curse at Dumbledore; only a conjured bird saved him from certain death.

"How can you use that curse?" Dumbledore said aloud. "Your oath should have prevented it!"

The Dark Lord sent out a tight group of Killing curses before replying. "You should have checked my wording on the oath! I only swore to avoid the _Avada Kedavra_ for as long as you and I had our one duel: after you thought you had defeated me, you declared the duel to be over. I'm free to duel however I want now."

Dumbledore rolled out of the way, before springing to his feet. "Then so am I."

A pile of rubble from the crumbling ceiling was turned into two tigers, another quick spell and they faded into invisibility.

Harry felt Voldemort's fear as he hastily scanned the room.

Wordlessly, the Dark Lord summoned a ring of Fiendfyre around him; the ring of flame took the shape of a huge burning dragon.

Voldemort cast a silent spell that changed Harry's vision: everything in the room changed to reflect its heat signature. The dragon was a blindly bright white, and both Dumbledore and his tigers were clearly visible in a bright yellow.

A Dark Cutting curse cleanly bisected a tiger, the spell instantly cauterizing the lethal wound. With a wave of Harry's wand, Voldemort tossed the two halves of the tiger at Dumbledore, detonating the corpse once it was close enough.

Dumbledore managed to Vanish one of the two halves, but the explosion of the other flung him back off of his feet.

The Fiendfyre dragon consumed the second tiger in a single snap of its fiery jaws, but soon faded under the force of Dumbledore's counter-spell.

Voldemort swore quietly in Parseltongue; jumping back into action, he fired off a jet of boiling water at the Headmaster.

A quick freezing charm from Dumbledore turned the spray into hundreds of shards of ice, and a Banishing hex blasted the ice back to Voldemort.

Voldemort conjured a burst of Dragon-fire, reducing the razor shards into harmless drops of water.

Harry marveled at the magical prowess both had displayed: he had been training hard with the DA, but even still, he couldn't even touch the power either man displayed.

_Poor Potter._ Voldemort interrupted. _You're supposed to be the one to vanquish me, but even you realize you can't match me. You might as well surrender now, after Dumbledore falls, you will be my next victim._

Harry fumed inwardly.

_Enjoy the show Potter._ Voldemort laughed. _You'll soon see how the world works. I'll be coming for you soon enough. Number four isn't it? Privet Drive?_

A conjured gorilla caused Voldemort to return his attention to the duel, leaving Harry to his thoughts once more.

Clearly by his parting comment, Voldemort had infiltrated Harry's mind deeper than he'd realized. Harry wondered if he could do the same. He could find out what Voldemort knew about Bellatrix's true loyalties, as well as where he could learn some of the magic Voldemort had discovered in Hogwarts.

Deep in the recesses of his own mind, Harry took a seated position, and closed his eyes. He wasn't sure how to access Voldemort's mind, but figured he might as well try.

The only mind magic he knew was the very basics of Occlumency, as well as the incantation for the Legilimency spell. He could only hope that Voldemort's possession of him would be along the same vein.

He'd never been the best at clearing his mind, but Harry gave it a go: every time a thought crossed his mind, he chased it away, trying to leave only a clean blank slate. But to no avail; he could only maintain the blankness for a few moments before a wandering thought broke his concentration, and he had to start from scratch.

Sighing in frustration he decided upon a different course of action: instead of thinking about nothing, he decided to focus on one thing to the point of absolution. He quickly scanned his memories for something suitable.

An image of his Godfather sprang to mind, but with it came the tangled emotions of grief and loss; Harry decided to move onto a different memory: the rush of flying high above the clouds, and the view from that height seemed to be a good one.

Yet again however, flying brought him back to his Firebolt given to him by Sirius: Harry knew better than to linger, and passed on once more.

Harry recalled the all-encompassing darkness of his cupboard; it wasn't a particularly inviting place, but when he was in there, surrounded by the darkness, he was safe: safe from Vernon's rages and Petunia's screeching. During the night while the Dursleys slept, he could experience rare moments of total peace and isolation.

With his eyes closed, it was easy to bring up memories of the cupboard: soon he could see and feel nothing but the comforting embrace of the dark.

At last his mind was clear: with the shields of darkness in place, Harry could understand Snape's ability to block out his emotions: to maintain a mask of calm no matter what. Everything around him seemed so far away, even within his own mind: the stray thoughts came fewer and farther in between, and even the duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort was like a dream, fading away into the darkness.

Now fully encompassed within his shields of darkness, Harry knew he needed to move on. Within the pocket of his robes, he found a wand: it wasn't his holly wand, Voldemort was using that, but it was rather familiar nevertheless: almost like family.

It was the same length as his wand, but a different color: while his wand was made from holly, a quite pale wood, this one was a deeper brown, richer in color. When he gave it a tentative wave, crimson and gold sparks showered from the end.

The familiar feel encouraged him: Harry knew that this wand would work, at least within the confines of his own mind.

Slowly raising the wand in front of him, Harry whispered a single word: "_Legilimens_!"

He was immediately thrown into a kaleidoscope of memories: different fragmented scenes surrounded him: instinctively, he latched onto the nearest one.

There was a wild rush; similar to the feeling of a Portkey, but soon Harry was standing in what was unquestionably a throne room.

_A gangly teen knelt before Voldemort: "Rise my servant: tell me, what could be so important that you dared disturb my slumber?"_

_The teen's head rose, his hood falling back to reveal a sallow face, and a familiar hooked nose. "My Lord: there has been a prophecy made." Severus Snape said reverently._

_Voldemort leaned forward in his ornate throne. "A prophecy you say? Why would I care of such nonsense?"_

"_My Lord," Snape whispered. "It concerns you... and your downfall."_

_A wand-less burst of magic blasted the teen back. "There will be no downfall!" Voldemort shouted, rising from his throne. "I am closer to immortality than any before me! I shall live forever."_

"_My Lord..." Snape wheezed. "Please... let me explain."_

_A long white wand extended from the sleeve of Voldemort's robe. "Speak quickly young Severus; I would hate to kill a promising Death Eater for his inadequacies."_

"_The old fool: Dumbledore," Snape said hurriedly. "He was interviewing for the Divination and Potions positions-"_

_Voldemort waved a hand. "I'm aware of that already, I am the one who told you to apply for that position; my memory is as perfect as it has ever been."_

"_Of course My Lord." Snape babbled. "I meant no disrespect."_

_Voldemort sighed and returned to his throne. "Speak Severus."_

"_I was listening at the door, hoping to find out how Dumbledore worded his questions, and trying to prepare for my interview," Snape continued. "But the seer he was interviewing fell into a trance and gave a true prophecy in the midst of her interview."_

"_I only heard the first two lines before I was caught, but as I recall, it said: 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...'" He whispered._

"_Leave my presence." Voldemort ordered. When Snape hesitated, he was wandlessly Banished through the wall, leaving a large hole in the wooden structure._

_Voldemort steepled his fingers as he leaned forward in his throne. Slowly, he repeated the prophecy: "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies..."_

"_This requires further thought." He said aloud. With a gesture of his wand, the doors slammed shut and locked tightly, and the hole in the wall repaired itself._

Harry withdrew from the memory; still seated within the confines of his own mind, he mulled over what he'd just seen: Snape had told Voldemort of the prophecy, and according to Lucius Malfoy, the prophecy was the reason his parents had gotten killed.

Red hot rage bubbled violently within him: Dumbledore had known about Snape's actions, and still defended him? Dumbledore had willingly placed Harry in a class under the man who had sold Harry's family out to Voldemort?

Silently, he vowed to have words with Dumbledore when this was over; but first, he needed to use this opportunity to discover more about Voldemort while the Dark Lord was unaware of his presence.

Raising the wand, he once again whispered the incantation: "_Legilimens._"

This time he was more prepared for what he'd see as he rocketed through Voldemort's mind. The whirlwind of images and sounds almost overwhelmed him, but Harry powered through. He concentrated on modern day Snape, desperate to see how else the Potions Master fit into this war. Harry had to see which side Snape was truly on.

The memories around him started dropping away, and soon no more than a dozen memories remained floating in the empty void.

In one of the memories, Harry saw an all too familiar graveyard; stomach knotting in fear, he stepped forward, and into the frame.

The rush of Legilimency soon faded, leaving Harry in the Little Hangleton Graveyard. Nine robed Death Eaters surrounded Voldemort and another Death Eater in a ring.

_As Harry watched, Voldemort raised his wand: "Severus, you've shown great bravery in appearing here tonight, I'd thought you had betrayed me."_

"_Never My Lord," Snape said, as he knelt before the Dark Lord. "I merely needed time to concoct a feasible story for Dumbledore; now that I've distracted him long enough, he won't even realize that I have returned to your side."_

_A pale bare foot lashed out, striking Snape across the face. "You fool! Do you think that I had forgotten your position? My spy in Hogwarts was perfectly positioned to help you fabricate a story behind your absence, but because of your actions, my most loyal Death Eater has been Kissed!"_

"_My Lord, I tried to stop the Minister, but to no avail." Snape said as looked up, blood streaming freely from his nose. "He ordered the Kiss before even the Headmaster could do anything."_

"Crucio_!"_

_Snape spasmed as the Torture curse did its work, but to his credit, did not scream._

_Voldemort shook his head sadly. "You've always been too stubborn for your own good Severus." He hissed._

"_My apologies," Snape said. "But while the death of Bartemius Crouch is _unfortunate_, it did serve a very useful purpose."_

_Voldemort lifted his wand again: "Tread carefully Severus: you haven't yet proven that you are of worth to me."_

_Snape raised his hands defensively. "I intend no offense My Lord, but with the death of Crouch, the Ministry intends to cover up your return: by doing so, they will have to actively discredit the Headmaster, who is certain to do everything he can to spread the word."_

_Voldemort slowly lowered his wand. "Then, they may yet strip him from Hogwarts."_

"_Exactly!" Snape said. "He has long since told me that I am listed as his successor: neither Pomona nor Minerva has any desire to run the school, and the Ministry's laws prevent a half-goblin like Filius from taking the position. I will soon be able to hand Hogwarts to you on a silver platter."_

"_You have done well Severus." Voldemort praised. "But take care not to disappoint me. I can always find another spy."_

"_Of course My Lord," Snape said, bowing his head. "I am aware of your vast resources."_

"_Report to Dumbledore that I am actively recruiting:" Voldemort said. "Tell him that I want the giants, the werewolves, and anything else you can think of to spread his forces even thinner; meanwhile, we will build up our forces, break our allies out of Azkaban, and prepare to attack the Ministry: we must have that prophecy."_

Harry forcefully pulled himself from the memory, re-emerging within his shield of darkness moments later.

So Snape really was a traitor... He wasn't that surprised, but Dumbledore had always sworn up and down that he trusted Snape implicitly. The Headmaster needed to see this memory: maybe then he would realize the greasy bastard's true loyalties.

Harry took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself as he once again cleared his mind. While interesting, he hadn't intended to search for Snape's loyalties. He was more concerned about what Voldemort knew about Bellatrix's loyalties.

He closed his eyes again, and once more dove into the farthest reaches of Voldemort's mind. The overwhelming tunnel of memory sprang up before him once more. Determined not to fall before the torrent of sight and sound barraging his senses, Harry limited the memories to those concerning Bellatrix.

Casting his gaze around, Harry caught a glimpse of Voldemort and Bellatrix arguing. He stepped into the memory, coming out into an unfamiliar hallway.

"_-fuck are you thinking?" Bellatrix was shouting. "We can't risk moving too quickly now!"_

"_You dare question me?" Voldemort hissed darkly. "Do you know what I would do to you if you were anyone else within the Death Eater's ranks?"_

"_Don't even try it Voldemort." Bellatrix snapped back. "You know as well as I do that you are glad to have somebody in the Death Eaters that is willing to question you."_

_Voldemort laughed coldly. "Indeed I am. The problem with ruling by fear is that nobody is willing to step up and tell you when an idea is just plain foolish. Your input is generally quite useful."_

"_Then listen to me this time." Bellatrix said angrily. "If you attempt a full scale invasion on the Ministry now, all the work you've put into this so far will have gone down the drain. It will be a futile waste of resources and wands, for what gain? To learn the rest of a prophecy that is probably fulfilled? You are better off putting more resources into recruiting: then, when we finally meet the Ministry on the battlefield, we will be more than a match for them."_

"_Perhaps you are right." Voldemort admitted. "I already have a few plans in place to lure Potter to the Ministry and retrieve the prophecy for me. It would be a shame to waste all that work..."_

"_Very well," He said finally. "We will go with your plan."_

"_Thank you." Bellatrix said more calmly. "Now I did need to have a short discussion with you about Snape."_

_Voldemort snake-like face instantly hardened. "Tread carefully Bellatrix." He said warningly. "Even you do not have permission to question me when it comes to Severus."_

"_Somebody needs to," Bellatrix told him. "It might as well be me."_

"_I will not back down on this one Bella," Voldemort hissed. "Severus Snape is one of the most loyal Death Eaters I have ever had."_

"_So he lets you think." Bellatrix snorted. "He is very accomplished at hiding his true thoughts and feelings."_

"_I've trawled through the deepest reaches of his mind: every thought, every memory, every word he has ever spoken was laid bare before me." Voldemort hissed. "I know more about Severus Snape than even he does."_

"_And with all due respect Voldemort," Bellatrix said hotly. "He is a master Occlumens. He was a few years behind me, and even though I come from the Ancient and Noble House of Black, and was personally trained by Lord Orion Black, he resisted my probe with no training! The man is a natural; I guarantee that he could have kept something from you if he wished."_

"_And I am a Natural Legilimens!" Voldemort shouted back, his black aura flaring violently around him. "Severus Snape can no more lie to me than a worm can kill a snake!"_

_Bellatrix's angry glare didn't waver as she replied. "If you want to be that go ahead: it's your funeral not mine."_

"_I am as close to immortality as is possible!" Voldemort declared triumphantly. "I will outlast the world: nobody will be able to kill me! You should know as much: I did give you custody of one of my safeguards."_

"_Of course Voldemort;" Bellatrix said easily. "It's in my vault in Gringotts; nobody will be able to get to it unless they are me, my heirs, or my spouse."_

"_Excellent work Bella." Voldemort said happily. "You have done much better than Lucius: he sacrificed one of my safeguards in a vain attempt to discredit Arthur Weasley."_

_Bellatrix's eyes widened in surprise. "Did he now? Fool. It's no wonder my sister left him."_

"_Lucius' wife has abandoned him?" Voldemort asked. "Why was that?"_

"_I'm not sure exactly." Bellatrix told him. "Cissy showed up on my doorstep one night saying that she had left Lucius: she offered to take Draco, but he wanted to stay behind."_

"_I assumed that Cygnus had put her under a slave bond like he did you..." Voldemort wondered aloud._

_Bellatrix laughed hollowly, "He would never have gotten away with that: Cissy was always Mother's favorite. She would never have allowed her beloved daughter to go through such hell."_

_Bellatrix stared wistfully at the Dark Lord. "Did you know that my dear sweet mother was the first victim of my Cruciatus?" She asked._

"_I'm not in the mood for one of your stories Bella." Voldemort said tiredly._

_Bellatrix continued on like he hadn't spoken. "It was wonderful... to this day, her screams power my Patronus, and to use the Killing Curse I only have to think of the woman's disdainful expression. I suppose I should thank her for that."_

_She laughed again. "At least I would if she were still alive: the bitch deserved everything she got, but I know Cissy still misses her occasionally."_

_Voldemort rubbed his eyes. "What part of 'I'm not in the mood for one of your stories' don't you understand?"_

_Bellatrix shrugged. "You asked about Cissy: it was relevant."_

"_Spread the word to ramp up recruiting: let the new ones attack a Muggle town to quench their violent tendencies. We can't risk them getting too antsy before we reveal ourselves." Voldemort ordered._

"_As you wish."_

"_Oh and Bella..." Voldemort said as she turned away._

_Bellatrix looked back expectantly._

"Crucio!"

Carefully Harry withdrew from Voldemort's mind, appearing back within his own mindscape.

Clearly Bellatrix and Voldemort had a relationship vastly different than what he'd expected. He never would have believed that the Dark Lord would be willing to listen to outside advice, let alone cede to her point.

He focused on blanking his mind of all the memories he'd witnessed so that Voldemort wouldn't be able to see them. He would only get one shot at this, and he couldn't risk losing it.

Harry hardened his thoughts into an iron-hard spear, and attacked Voldemort's presence, trying to throw him off balance.

The Dark Lord stumbled, and a Piercing hex drilled a ragged hole through his left forearm. Harry screamed as he felt the hex take effect on him too.

Voldemort Apparated silently, reappearing behind a pile of rubble, attempting to catch his breath.

A thick white bandage wrapped around his arm, and at the same time, a warm wave of magic soothed the pain both felt. Slowly the flesh and bone knitted together, leaving only an uncomfortable itch behind.

Voldemort's voice came from all around Harry: '_Are you willing to surrender now Potter? I'm wasting half of my energy to restrain you, but with my skill and your raw power we can destroy Dumbledore once and for all!'_

"Never!" Harry said weakly. "I'll fight you as long as I can! You won't beat Dumbledore!"

'_If I lose, then your body will be destroyed._ Voldemort reminded him. _And then I will simply return to my own body, and escape. Face it Potter: we have reached a checkmate and you have lost.'_

A familiar rush passed through them both: a _Homenum Revelio_ spell!

Voldemort retreated to the forefront of Harry's mind in order to deal with the advancing Dumbledore.

He straightened up, meeting Dumbledore's eyes proudly. "So you've found me at last old man."

"Trust me Tom," Dumbledore said sagely. "I never lost sight of you. I did however have enough time to devise a plan."

Voldemort smirked. "You have a plan? How absolutely terrifying."

Dumbledore raised his wand. "I'm not laughing about this; neither should you."

Voldemort simply snarled in response, shifting into a battle stance.

"_Avada Kedavra_!" He roared, flinging the sickly green Killing curse at Dumbledore with a flick of his wand.

Dumbledore casually Summoned the beheaded gorilla's corpse to block the curse. "I've already told you Tom. You will not best me with that curse tonight. Luckily for you, the magic considers this to be a new duel; otherwise I would have already won."

A bolt of lightning from Voldemort's wand singed the Headmaster's garish robes as he rapidly backpedaled from the curse.

Dumbledore recovered quickly, and Apparated directly in front of Voldemort, resting his wand tip on the Dark Lord's chest.

"It's over Voldemort; you will be vanquished once more. With any luck, it will be for longer this time."

Voldemort's eyes widened noticeably. "You wouldn't dare: you'd kill the boy too."

Dumbledore shrugged coldly. "That's a risk I'm willing to take. With his death, the prophecy will be fulfilled."

"Do you truly believe that Dumbledore?" Voldemort hissed. "And to think that they call me the Dark Lord..."

"I'm sorry Harry." Dumbledore said, a tear rolling down his cheek. "You were like a grandson to me."

'_He's bluffing!'_ Voldemort told Harry. '_He'll never go through with it._'

Harry steeled himself, preparing: he'd only get one shot at this.

"_Expecto Patronum_!" Dumbledore roared. A gleaming silver phoenix burst from the end of his wand in a shower of flame, circling around its caster once, before corkscrewing into Voldemort.

The Patronus knocked him down, sending the Dark Lord skidding across the floor: Harry reacted instantly, expanding his dark shroud to cover the rest of his mind; caught by surprise, Voldemort was forced out, and Harry was once again in control of his body.

Groaning, Harry rolled onto his knees, forehead resting against the cool magical floor. His rapid breathing slowly returned to normal as he realized that he had succeeded: Voldemort was gone! The sudden lack of pain from his scar told him that the Dark Lord was nowhere near the Ministry any longer.

"Harry?" Dumbledore said softly, as he pocketed his wand. "Did it work? Is Voldemort's possession finished?"

"Yeah," Harry said weakly. "I think he's gone I'm glad my strategy worked: I don't want to think about what would have happened if he'd had control of my body much longer..."

"Your plan?" Dumbledore asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically. "May I be so rude as to ask what your plan was?"

"Of course Professor," Harry said as he gingerly returned to his feet. "I knew that you were going to hit him with something: at that distance, it was inevitable. As soon as your Patronus knocked him down, I attacked, lashing out at his presence; it worked though, I am alone in my own mind once again."

"My dear boy," Dumbledore said kindly, peering over his half-moon glasses, "Do you really think that a wizard as experienced in possession as Tom would be pushed out of your mind by a fifth-year? According to Severus, you were hardly a Natural Occlumens: I think it far more likely that his dark soul, mutilated as it is, couldn't withstand to power of a truly positive spell like my Patronus."

Harry opened his mouth to complain, but thought better of it. "You're right Sir." He said, bowing his head respectfully to the Headmaster. "I apologize for doubting you."

Inwardly he seethed: he knew what had happened, Voldemort was right, Dumbledore really was a fool.

"No apology is needed Harry." Dumbledore told him. "Just be sure to think things through before you speak: it helps avoid sticky situations, particularly when dealing with politicians."

Harry stared blankly at him.

A knowing light twinkled in the old man's eyes. "It is never too early for advice on politics Harry. You will have a powerful seat in the Wizengamot one day: I am sure that the Minister will soon be catering to you for your support on his positions."

Dumbledore straightened up, snapping his fingers. "That reminds me... Cornelius! I know that you and your Aurors are here: come out and face me like the man you should be!"

Against the wall in destroyed Hall of Prophecy, the air shimmered, before fading away to reveal a familiar man. Short and portly, with rumpled gray hair, the Minister for Magic stood in his pajamas, a wrinkled pinstriped cloak draped over his shoulders, and his trademark lime-green bowler twisted carelessly between his hands.

"Dumbledore?" The Minister squeaked awkwardly, as he wrung his hat even more tightly. "How did you know I was in here?"

"He's the Headmaster of Hogwarts," one of the six grizzled Aurors surrounding him pointed out. "He's bound to have some tricks that we can't even begin to comprehend."

"Nonsense Dawlish, it was a simple _Homenum Revelio_." Dumbledore said joyfully. "I caught your presence when I was searching for Voldemort's hiding place."

"Quit mentioning that name!" Dawlish snapped. "The Minister told us that he was gone, and that's that!"

Fudge tiredly waved a hand. "Don't bother John: you saw him as well as I did. You-Know-Who is back, there is no denying it this time."

"But Sir-!" Dawlish protested.

"John," Fudge said warningly. "It's time that we saw what was in front of our faces the entire time: the Dark Lord has returned."

"At last you have seen the light Cornelius!" Dumbledore thundered. "If only you had listened to me this time last year, we could have prevented all of this chaos! It is time you start acting like the Minister you were elected to be!"

"With the information I had available, the best I could reasonably assume is that you were trying to rile up support for your cause, and stir up panic amongst the masses." The Minister countered forcefully. "I was doing my sworn duty to protect the public! I've had men checking on the rumors of Death Eater activity for months, but we could never get close! I've been working on the same side as you Dumbledore, but I was also avoiding a mass panic from the public! Which is more than what I can say for you!"

"Bullshit!"

All eyes turned to Harry as his proclamation echoed loudly.

"If you were truly trying to work against a possible return by Voldemort, you wouldn't have unleashed Umbitch on Hogwarts!" Harry shouted.

"Dolores?" Fudge asked. "What does she have to do with anything? She is the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister."

"She has also personally done more to damage to Hogwarts than a million Voldemort's ever could!" Harry told him hotly, ignoring the shudder that ran through everyone except for him and Dumbledore.

"She banned us from any practical magic, passed a series of ridiculous rules that served no purpose in an educational establishment, and when any students complained, she would put them in a detention making them write lines with this horrible black quill!" Harry finished.

Fudge dropped the mangled bowler to floor in surprise. "She used a Blood Quill on students!" He started to pace angrily along the floor muttering darkly.

Confused, Harry looked towards Dumbledore. The aged Headmaster had an expression of fury on his face like no other: even when fighting Voldemort, the man never looked so terrifying.

After a moment, he spoke, his normally serene voice dripping with hatred. "A Blood Quill is a terrible thing Harry. As I'm sure you've figured out, it makes the user write with their own blood, opening up a cut on the back of their hands. Excessive exposure can cause permanent scarring, as well as severe blood loss."

"Harry, Dolores' family was the inventors of the Blood Quills centuries ago, and even today are the only ones who can legally manufacture them." Fudge told him angrily. "The only other ones who can legally use them anymore are Gringotts, primarily for binding contracts and the like."

"Then can't we arrest her?" Harry asked. "There are at least half a dozen people I can find that were subjected to her detentions: hell I've got the proof carved into the back of my hand!"

Fudge shook his head sadly. "I can't do anything... This summer, we were trying everything we could to stop you and Dumbledore from spreading rumors of Voldemort's return. Dolores convinced me to sign a one year amnesty for her before she took the position at Hogwarts, 'just in case', as she put it. I was a fool."

"So what does that mean then?" Harry asked. "Does she get off scot-free?"

"I'm afraid so Harry." Dumbledore interrupted. "Unless she commits a crime after the amnesty runs out, the Minister can't even fire her: it could be grounds for a lawsuit."

"Then what do we do?" Harry asked.

"I'll tell you what we are going to do." Fudge said confidently. "Now that we have definitive proof of You-Know-Who's return, we need to get moving as quickly as possible. Harry, I want you to do an interview with the _Daily Prophet_ about tonight's events."

"Harry will do no such thing Cornelius!" Dumbledore snapped. "He will return to Hogwarts' Hospital Wing: there will be no interview tonight."

"This doesn't concern you Dumbledore." Fudge said harshly. "I was speaking to Potter, you have no business interfering."

"I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts!" Dumbledore boomed. "He is a student of the school, and under my authority."

"With all due respect Dumbledore," Fudge snarled back. "You are no longer the Headmaster, Dolores is. And under Education Decree 13, I strip her of her post due to criminal allegations! For the time being, Severus Snape is the interim Headmaster of Hogwarts."

"You do not want me as your enemy Cornelius." Dumbledore said, taking a step forward.

Harry had a flash of _Déjà Vu_: Snape had said the same thing to Quirrell four years previously.

"Stand down Dumbledore." Fudge ordered. "You will be restored to your post on the first of July. For now, I suggest that you leave the Ministry, before I press charges for the destruction of the Department of Mysteries."

Dumbledore met the Minister's eyes coldly. "This is not the end of this Cornelius..."

Fudge didn't waver. "You wanted me to act like the Minister; this is what I should have done a long time ago: leave Dumbledore. Now."

Dumbledore stepped back. "Fine Cornelius, I cannot force you to see reason: I expect to hear from you tomorrow: we will need a united front against the forces of Darkness."

Dumbledore levitated the unconscious Neville and Luna over to him, before vanishing with a soft _pop_.

"I'm sorry about that Harry." Fudge said tiredly. "Dumbledore and I have a tendency to disagree on how to go about things."

"No need to apologize Minister." Harry said happily. "You should try to act like that more often. If this war continues to escalate, we will need a Minister that will do more than simply bow to whatever Dumbledore demands."

"Perhaps you are right..." Fudge said. "It is something to consider. Now, as I was saying before Dumbledore interrupted me, I'd like you to do an interview with the _Prophet _about the battle tonight."

"I don't trust your reporters." Harry said bluntly. "Rita Skeeter mangled and destroyed everything I ever told her in an interview."

"What about that interview you did with her for the _Quibbler_?" Fudge asked. "It seemed to be fairly honest, compared to her usual work."

Harry snorted. "Only because I had the editor of the _Quibbler_ double check it before it was posted."

"Regardless, Skeeter isn't with the _Prophet _right now." Fudge told him. "She took a year-long vacation; she should be back within a month though."

"Then who would I be doing an Interview with?"

"Andy Smudgley." Fudge said. "He's been a major reporter with the _Prophet _since 1984, well known for his integrity and honesty in reporting."

"I'll do the interview for you with a handful of conditions." Harry said.

Fudge nodded. "Of course, I would expect nothing less from you Harry. You've proven yourself to be a very intelligent young man. What would you need?"

"First, you send me a copy of the article before it gets published, and let me make any edits I deem necessary." Harry said.

"Of course, with a story like this, I completely understand." Fudge agreed.

"I want Sirius Black's story to be told in full over the next year." Harry said. "He was an innocent man and died fighting to stop the Death Eaters."

"If you can provide proof to his innocence, then I am sure we can work something out." Fudge said nervously. "But you have to understand that it will be difficult to convince the public without concrete proof."

Harry ignored Fudge's non-answer. "Finally, I want an open column in the paper. Whenever I feel like it, I want to be able to pen an article and have it published no questions asked. I won't utilize it too often, but I want the avenue available at all times."

"I'm sure we can work that out." Fudge said with a nod. "But there may be some restrictions as to what you can post. I can't control Cuffe; he still has veto power over his articles."

"That's my deal. Take it or leave it." Harry said firmly. "You have thirty minutes to give me your answer."

"No, no, no, no." Fudge said, shaking his head. "I'm sure he'll agree. I accept your terms Harry."

"Excellent." Harry smiled. "Let's go meet this Smudgley of yours."

"If he got my owl, Andy should be in his office at the Daily Prophet. Have you ever Side-Along Apparated before?" Fudge asked.

"No I haven't." Harry told him.

"Alright then," Fudge said, holding his left arm out. "It's a simply process for you. Simply grab my arm firmly, and whatever happens: DO NOT LET GO!"

Harry took a hold of the proffered elbow.

"It will be an odd sensation." The Minister told him. "Rather like being squeezed through a very tight tube. Don't worry; it will be over in a few moments. Ready?"

Harry nodded.

He felt Fudge's arm twist away from him, and mindful of the Minister's warning, redoubled his grip on the man's arm: everything went black as the pressure against his skin magnified a thousand fold. It felt like constricting iron bands were tightening around his chest; his eyes were forced back into his skull, so painfully that Harry was afraid they would pop.

And as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.

"Alright there Harry?"

"Yeah I think so." Harry said woozily. "But I'll probably stick to brooms for the most part. At least they only try to kill me: Apparition makes me wish I was dead."

"Easy now," Fudge said, helping him to his feet. "Most people vomit when they Apparate for the first time. It takes some getting used to."

"I can certainly see why." Harry said, as he straightened up. "My head is still spinning."

He glanced around cautiously; the entire room was a blur of black and brown, with the occasional splotch of white light. He couldn't make out a thing.

Fudge had sheepish look. "Sorry, part of that is the Fidelius. The _Prophet's_ offices are generally a big target of attack in war time, so Cuffe had it put under a Fidelius during the last war. I'm not the Secret Keeper, so I can't fill you in on it. Andy can tell you the Secret for his office once the interview begins, so just hold on for a second until we get there."

Harry closed his eyes to block out the blur, and let the Minister lead him down a convoluted through the office building.

Soon Fudge stopped and rapped sharply on a door. The creak of wood told Harry that Smudgley had opened the door, and Fudge quickly ushered him inside.

"Andy Smudgley's office is located in the South Side, Diagon Alley." An unfamiliar voice said.

Harry opened his eyes to reveal a well-furnished office. Leather chairs were clustered around a spacious wooden desk, and towering bookshelves lined the walls. Standing beside the armchair behind the desk was a tall slender man with shaggy brown hair.

The man thrust a hand out eagerly, as his eyes flicked up to glance at the faded scar. "Harry Potter! Delighted to meet you, the name's Andy Smudgley!"

Harry awkwardly accepted the handshake as he replied. "Harry Potter, but it seems you already know that."

"Of course, of course, of course!" Smudgley continued giddily. "I have to say, I never thought I'd get the chance to interview you, you've been notoriously harsh in your refusals every time we've reached out to you."

"What?" Harry asked angrily. "I haven't received any requests, let alone set out a rebuttal!"

Smudgley sat down in his chair as he gestured for Harry to do the same. "Interesting, somebody has clearly been interfering with your mail. Do you know who it might be Minister?"

"Not for certain no," Fudge said, his face flushed with rage. "But based on his reaction tonight, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Albus Dumbledore."

Smudgley leaned back in surprise. "Really? He's always been more than willing to do an interview for the _Prophet_ every time I've asked."

"Yes, but he was rather adamant against Harry coming tonight." Fudge said. "It's either Dumbledore, or something to do with his parents' will."

Harry spun to face the Minister, "My parents had a will? Why have I never seen it?"

"It was sealed by order of the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot," Fudge told him. "A certain Albus Dumbledore. Until you turn of age, and take up the mantle of Lord Potter, you will be unable to revoke his order."

Harry seethed quietly in his seat. "That man will have some serious explaining to do."

"Interesting as this is," Smudgley interrupted. "It is already 01:00, if we want to get this story out by tomorrow morning; we need to get this interview moving: I imagine it will take the majority of the night."

"Probably," Harry agreed. "Alright Mr. Smudgley, fire away."

The reporter withdrew an elegant quill from the pocket of his robes, and set it on a blank roll of parchment, with a tap from his wand; it sprang up, and balanced on the parchment.

At Harry's inquisitive look, Smudgley explained. "It's a spell for a Dict-a-Quill. It will record everything exactly as we say it. You wouldn't believe how much easier it makes note-taking."

"I can imagine." Harry muttered, watching the quill write out his response.

"Okay Harry, I'm going to start the interview now." Smudgley began. "What can you tell me as to why you were in the Ministry this evening Mr. Potter?"

Harry leaned forward in his seat. "As I'm sure you can imagine it's a rather long story that begins back in my History of Magic O.W.L. this afternoon..."

**MUHAHAHA! Did you really think that I would publish the interview? You'll have to wait until next time. Which incidentally brings me to my next point: due to the impending holidays here in America, the next chapter will be delayed slightly: I'll be taking a few weeks off for the celebrations, but then we'll be posting as usual until the Winter Holidays. Once Christmas swings around, I'll slow down again, and then we'll be back to our usual schedule of approximately one every two weeks.**

**YES I KNOW THAT WE KILLED TONKS! Thank you for everybody that pointed that out though, it is nice to know you guys will keep us on track :) Don't worry, we have a plan for her eventual triumphant return.**

**A lot of people freaked out over the death toll: all we have to say is: get used to it! War is hell; people die. It's our intent to make it as realistic as possible. While I can't speak for Nova, I have a lot of military connections in my family, and I strive to portray the realities of a combat situation. That's why in the upcoming chapters, there will be a very emotionally unstable Harry, suffering from PTSD.**

**OK, enough of the grim stuff though. As is usual, we received amazing support and feedback from you guys: between the two websites, we have 94 reviews! As we mentioned last time, the 100th reviewer on each site will get a special reward, so keep up your support, it is truly awe-inspiring. It's only been about a month and a half, and we have the 94 reviews, plus over 600 follows/favs, we can't describe our shock at how well received this story has been.**

**-BETA OUT!**

**P.S. Shit almost forgot! Don't forget to check out the Facebook Page! The link is once again on my profile!**

**P.S.S. And Nova, if you steal my catchphrase again, I'm going to kick your ass and kill off your favorite character!**

**-BETA OUT! (AGAIN!)**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Well I am Nova and I can indeed speak for myself lol. My family also has a rather extensive Military history, so in reality we both want to portray the harsh and often very deadly realities of combat. As the story progresses things will get even worse and even bloodier. Next time your country goes to war remember that while we may have killed less than two dozen so far, in a real war thousands if not hundreds of thousands die including innocent men, women and children that just happen to be on the wrong side of the border line.**

**I would also like to thank everyone for the awesome reviews and support please keep them coming. Beta is right we are both shocked at how well our story has been received and I could not have said it any better myself.**

**-NOVA OUT!**

**P.S. BETA if you must know Hermione is one of my favorites. Go ahead and kill her off see if I care, I dare ya :P and as for kicking my arse I would love to see you try from a few hundred miles away LMAO.**

**-NOVA OUT! (AGAIN)**


End file.
